Plant Species: Plectritis macrocera, longhorn plectritis
Kingdom: Plantae --plants
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons
Order: Dipsacales
Family: Valerianaceae -- valerian family
Genus: Plectritis
Species: macrocera
Variety:
Common Name: longhorn plectritis, white plectritis, or desert corn-salad
Species Code: PLMA4
Origin: Native to open, vernally moist areas from British Columbia to California and east to Utah and Montana.
Rare: no
Form: forb, annual from a taproot; stems erect, simple, 10-60 cm tall, mostly glabrous but often finely glandular in the inflorescence.
Mature height: 4-24 inches
Duration: annual
Longevity: annual
Habitat Type: prairie, shrub thickets, forest
Wetland Indicator Status: FACU+
Leaves: basal leaves soon deciduous; cauline leaves opposite, 1-4.5 cm long, lowermost short-petiolate and obovate, others sessile and oblong to elliptic, mostly glabrous.
Flowers: inflorescence terminal, cylindrical; corolla 2-6 mm long, white or pink, about equally 5-lobed, with a short, thick spur; stamens 3; calyx obsolete.
Flower color: white, sometimes pink
Bloom: May
Bloom starts on:
Bloom ends on:
Fruit: achene, yellowish, 2-4 mm long, grooved, often winged, glabrous or hairy.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Valerianella macrocera in Piper & Beattie 1914.
Plant is an annual.
x=8 (University of British Columbia 2003)
2n=32 (University of British Columbia 2003, Baldwin et al 2004)
Flowers are perfect.
Polyploidy is present.
Fruit is an achene.
Largely autogamous although some out-crossing apparently also occurs (Dempster 1958, Baldwin 2004).
Comments:
Sun requirement: full sun
Soil moisture: mesic, at least vernally
Precipitation:
Fire:
Hazards:
Sowing time: probably fall
Transplant time: not recommended
Stratification: no information is available
Seed yield: no information is available
Seed harvest: no information is available
Seed first harvest: annual
Seed cleaning: no information is available
Planting duration: annual
Seed insect problem: no information is available
Seed shatter: no information is available
Seed size: medium
Seed harvest date: no information is available
Seed comments:
Keywords: native annual upland forb
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species:
Alternate Variety:
Propagation:
No information is available, probably best sown in place in autumn.
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Notes:
References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 1/4/10 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html
Dempster, Lauramay T. 1958. Dimorphism in the Fruits of Plectritis, and its Taxonomic Implications. Brittonia 10:14-28.
Piper, C.V., and R.K. Beattie. 1914. The Flora of Southeastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho. Press of the New Era Printing Company, Lancaster, PA. 296 pp.
University of British Columbia. 2003. British Columbia Flora. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Accessed 1/4/10 online at http://www.bcflora.org/