Malacothrix is a genus of plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. They are known generally as desert dandelions or desertdandelions. Most are native to western North America although a few have been introduced to South America. Several are found only on offshore islands in the Pacific.
Lycium andersonii is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Its common names include water-jacket, redberry desert-thorn, Anderson thornbush, Anderson's desert thorn, Anderson boxthorn, Anderson lycium, Anderson wolfberry, and squawberry.
Erythronium grandiflorum is a North American species of plants in the lily family. It is known by several common names, including yellow avalanche lily, glacier lily, and dogtooth fawn lily. The Ktunaxa name for glacier lily is maxa.
Alyssum alyssoides is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by several common names, including pale madwort and yellow alyssum. It is native to Eurasia, but it can be found throughout much of the temperate world as an introduced species and sometimes a common weed. For example, it has been noted as a weed in the western United States. It often appears in arable fields, sandy tracks, pits, and docks.
Malacothrix glabrata, commonly known as the smooth desert dandelion or desert dandelion, is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae. It is common to the southwestern deserts of North America and has showy pale-yellow to white flowers. The name "glabrata" refers to the leaves being (nearly) hairless. Like other members of its genus, it has a milky sap and flower heads composed of smaller strap-like flowers called "ligules".
Solidago nemoralis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is widely found in Canada and the United States. Its common names include gray goldenrod, gray-stem goldenrod, old-field goldenrod, field goldenrod, prairie goldenrod, dwarf goldenrod, and dyersweed goldenrod.
Ixia maculata is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae known by the common name spotted African corn lily. It is native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa, but it is grown widely as an ornamental plant. It can also be found growing wild as an introduced species in several areas, including Western Australia. This perennial flower grows 20 to 70 centimeters tall with an erect, unbranched stem. There are a few twisting basal leaves up to 35 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a dense, showy spike of up to 12 flowers, usually orange to yellow in color, sometimes with areas of purple or red and often with spots; the coloration in garden plants varies due to breeding.
Malacothrix californica is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name California desertdandelion. It is native to California, the western margin of Arizona and Baja California, where it may be found especially in the South Coast, Transverse and Peninsular Ranges and the western Mojave Desert.
Malacothrix clevelandii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Cleveland's desertdandelion. It is native to parts of the southwestern United States and Baja California, where it can be found most often in chaparral, including cleared and disturbed areas such as slopes recently burned by wildfire. The plant is also found in southern South America where it is an introduced species. It is an annual herb producing a flowering stem up to about 35 centimeters in maximum height. The toothed leaves are largest at the base of the plant, and reduced farther up. The inflorescence is an array of flower heads each bearing rings of pale yellow ray florets roughly half a centimeter long.
Malacothrix coulteri is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name snake's head, or snake's head desertdandelion. It is native to the southwestern United States is also found in southern South America where it is an introduced species. Its native habitat includes desert, grassland, chaparral, and other open, sandy areas. It is an annual herb producing a waxy, upright flowering stem up to about 50 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves, which are mostly located near the base of the stem, are toothed or not. The inflorescence is an array of flower heads with nearly spherical involucres of scale-like phyllaries one to two centimeters wide. The bracts are green, often with dark striping or marking. The yellow or white ray florets are about a centimeter long.
Malacothrix floccifera is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name woolly desertdandelion. It is native to many of the northern and central mountain ranges of California, including the Sierra Nevada, where its distribution extends into Nevada. Its habitat includes forest, woodland, and chaparral. It is an annual herb producing a hairless flowering stem up to about 42 centimeters in maximum height. The fleshy oblong leaves are cut into teeth or lobes and have cottony patches of woolly fibers. The inflorescence is an array of flower heads lined with hairless phyllaries. The ray florets are up to 1.5 centimeters long and are often white, but sometimes yellow.
Malacothrix incana is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name dunedelion. It is endemic to California, where it grows only in sand dunes on the beaches of the Channel Islands and isolated spots along the mainland coastline in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. The type specimen was collected in San Diego, but the plant no longer occurs there.
Malacothrix squalida is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Santa Cruz desertdandelion. It is endemic to Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands, two of the eight Channel Islands of California, where it grows on rocky seaside bluffs and cliffs. The plant is very limited in distribution and today exists only in degraded habitat on these two small islands. It was last collected from Santa Cruz Island in 1968, and two populations were noted on Anacapa Island in 1998; in drought years there may be no plants at all. It became a federally listed endangered species in 1997. This is an annual herb growing a hairless, waxy stem 20 to 30 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves are sharply lobed. The inflorescence is an array of flower heads lined with oval-shaped phyllaries. The ray florets are 1 to 2 centimeters and light yellow in color.
Malacothrix stebbinsii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Stebbins' desertdandelion. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico where it grows in deserts, scrub, and woodlands. It is an annual herb producing a hairless stem up to about 60 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves are lined with narrow lobes. The inflorescence is an array of flower heads with ray florets under a centimeter long and white to light yellow in color.
Diplacus clevelandii is an uncommon species of monkeyflower known by the common name Cleveland's bush monkeyflower. It was formerly known as Mimulus clevelandii.
Bloomeria clevelandii is a rare species of flowering plant that is known by the common name San Diego goldenstar. It is native to a strip of scrub and coastal grassland in San Diego County, California, and adjacent Baja California. Genetic analysis of several morphologically similar genera shows that this species, which was named Muilla clevelandii for several decades, is not very closely related to the other members of Muilla and is moved back to Bloomeria.
Rorippa palustris, marsh yellow cress, is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is widespread and native to parts of Africa, and much of Asia, Europe and Eurasia, North America and the Caribbean. It can also be found in other parts of the world as an introduced species and a common weed, for example, in Australia and South America. It is an adaptable plant which grows in many types of damp, wet, and aquatic habitat. It may be an annual, biennial, or perennial plant, and is variable in appearance as well.
Carlquistia is a rare North American genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae containing the single species Carlquistia muirii. Formerly named Raillardiopsis muirii, the plant was reexamined in the 1990s and moved to a new genus of its own, separate from similar and closely related genera, such as Madia. Common names for the species include Muir's tarplant, Muir's raillardiopsis, and Muir's raillardella.
Malacothrix junakii is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names Anacapa Island desert-dandelion, Junak's desertdandelion, and Junak's malacothrix. It is endemic to Anacapa Island, one of the Channel Islands of California, where it is known from just two occurrences. It occurs in the coastal scrub of the island. It was described to science as a new species in 1997.
Flacourtia rukam is a species of flowering plant in the family Salicaceae. It is native to Island Southeast Asia and Melanesia, but has spread into Mainland Southeast Asia, India, and Polynesia. It is also cultivated for its edible fruit. Common names include rukam, governor's plum, Indian plum, and Indian prune.
