Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Brownplume Wirelettuce
Stephanomeria pauciflora
Aster family (Asteraceae)

Stephanomeria pauciflora has a very slender, nearly vertical mass of thin, green stems with scattered pink/purple/white flowers. Last year's dried, almost white stems are almost always present at the bottom of the new green growth. Look for Wirelettuce in the sandy crevices of rocky canyon areas. S. tenuifolia is a more dense bush-like cousin found at similar and lower elevations and habitats.

In 1827 John Torrey named this species Prenanthes pauciflora from a specimen collected by Edwin James in the Rockies. In 1909 Aven Nelson re-examined the specimen and realized that it belonged in the Stephanomeria that Thomas Nuttall had created in 1841. Nelson renamed the species "Stephanomeria pauciflora." "Pauciflora" is Latin for "few flowers."


©2008 Stan Shebs

Description

Long-live (somewhat woody below) from subterranean (woody base to an otherwise plant). Intricately branched from the base, mostly 10-24" tall and broad. Herbage . Leaves to 3" long, , . Flowerheads at end of long , 3-5-flowered. pink or white. are wrinkled .

Field Marks

Wiry plant, intricately branched with scattering of white to pink flowers.

© Al Schneider

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

pinnatifid -- A leaf shape that is pinnately lobed but not cut all the way to the axis.

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

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

ray flowers -- The outer petals of a sunflower or daisy are ray flowers.

branchlet -- a small branch.

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

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

caudex -- The woody stem base of some herbaceous perennials.

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.