Triphysaria micrantha

(Greene ex A. Heller) T. I. Chuang & Heckard

Syst. Bot. 16: 660. 1991.

Common names: Purple-beak owl’s-clover
Endemic
Basionym: Orthocarpus micranthus Greene ex A. Heller Muhlenbergia 2: 251. 1906
Synonyms: O. erianthus var. micranthus (Greene ex A. Heller) Jepson
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 17. Treatment on page 686. Mentioned on page 685.

Stems simple or with 1–4 ascending branches proximally, (3.5–)5–15(–19) cm, glabrous proximally, pubescent to glandular-pubescent distally. Leaves pubescent to glandular-pubescent; proximal cauline: blade filiform to linear, (4–)5–25 mm; cauline: blade ± elliptic to obovate, 10–25 mm, base sessile, margins usually pinnatifid, lateral lobes 2–6(or 7). Spikelike racemes interrupted, open distally, 0.5–11 cm; peduncle absent; bracts pinnatifid, ± obovate, 7–13(–15) mm, lateral lobes 2–4. Pedicels 0.5–0.8 mm, glabrous, rarely sparsely puberulent. Flowers: calyx 6–7 mm, pubescent to glandular-pubescent, tube (2–)3–5 mm, lobes narrowly lanceolate, 1–3 × 0.8–1.3 mm; corolla yellow, rarely yellow and white, 10–12 mm, hairy, beak dark purple, rarely yellow, not hooked, abaxial lobes spreading, 1.5–2 mm, throat abruptly indented, forming a fold under abaxial corolla lip, adaxial lobes projecting; stamens included, pollen sac yellow, 1–1.3 mm, glabrous, dehiscing longitudinally; style 6–9 mm, glabrous; stigma 2-lobed. Capsules 3–5.5 × 3–4 mm, glabrous. Seeds (30–)40–80, ovoid to ellipsoid, 0.8–1 mm. 2n = 22.


Phenology: Flowering Mar–Apr.
Habitat: Grasslands, gravelly hilltops, oak woodlands.
Elevation: 50–800 m.

Discussion

Triphysaria micrantha is known from central California from the coast to the Sierra Nevada.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.