Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Spreading Groundsmoke
Gayophytum diffusum
Evening-Primrose family (Onagraceae)

Botanical experts Stanley Welsh of Utah and William Weber of Colorado are in full agreement on this : It is baffling and any key to it is "arbitrary and tentative at best." Whatever the exact name of the plant is, it certainly qualifies as cute and minute. It has very slender stems, leaves, and . Its flowers, which open in the morning, are very easy to overlook, but once you find them take a close look for the various streaks of yellow and orange and the change to red as the flowers age.


©2011 Matt Lavin

Description

from taproots, stems erect, usually branched at consecutive , from a few to 20" tall. Stems to hairy. Leaves to 2" long, to or . Flowers showy for this but they are very small and inconspicuous, with erect or deflexed, the first flowers borne 5-10 above the base of the stem. Petals 1/8 to 1/4" long. minute. a constricted between seeds.

Field Marks

Multi-branched very slender plant with tiny white flowers.

© Al Schneider

node -- The point at which there is attached growth, as in the place where each leaf is attached.

linear -- Long and very narrow like a blade of grass.

pedicel -- The stem of a single flower.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seed, within one year, and then dies.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

linear-lanceolate -- Elongate and exceedingly narrow with the sides more or less straight but gradually becomming broader near the base.

The anther is a pad at the end of the stamen that holds the pollen.

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

oblong -- Having an elongated form with somewhat parallel sides. Rectangular.