Microseris elegans

Last updated

Microseris elegans
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Microseris
Species:
M. elegans
Binomial name
Microseris elegans

Microseris elegans is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name elegant silverpuffs. It is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in the valleys, foothills, and coastal mountain ranges. Its habitat includes grassland, sometimes near vernal pools, and especially clay soils.

Description

It is an annual herb growing up to 35 centimeters tall from a basal rosette of erect leaves; there is no true stem. Each leaf is up to 20 centimeters long and has edges which are smooth, toothed, or divided into many lobes. The inflorescence is borne on an erect or curving peduncle arising from ground level. The flower head contains up to 100 orange or yellow ray florets.

The fruit is an achene with a brown to nearly black body a few millimeters long. At the tip of the body is a large pappus made up of five long, flat, barbed scales.


Related Research Articles

<i>Microseris nutans</i> Species of flowering plant

Microseris nutans is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name nodding microseris. It is native to western North America, including southwestern Canada and much of the western United States, including the Sierra Nevada in California, where it grows in many types of habitat.

<i>Downingia elegans</i> Species of flowering plant

Downingia elegans is a species of flowering plants in the bellflower family known by the common names elegant calicoflower and Californian lobelia. This showy wildflower is native to western North America from California to British Columbia, where it is a resident of meadows and vernal pool ecosystems. This annual grows on a branching erect stem with many pointed leaves. At the top of each stem branch is one or more flowers, each one half to two centimeters wide. The tubular flower has two long, narrow, pointed upper lobes which are generally rich purple. The lower lip is fused into one three-lobed surface, which is purple with a large blotch of white in the center. The lobes may be quite pointed. There is sometimes some yellow coloration near the mouth of the tube.

<i>Eschscholzia ramosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Eschscholzia ramosa is a species of poppy known by the common name Channel Islands poppy, or simply island poppy.

<i>Agoseris glauca</i> Species of flowering plant

Agoseris glauca is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names false dandelion, pale agoseris, prairie agoseris, and short-beaked agoseris. It is native to western North America.

<i>Angelica hendersonii</i> Species of flowering plant

Angelica hendersonii is a species of angelica known as Henderson's angelica. It is native to the west coast of the United States from Washington to central California, where it grows in the coastal sage scrub and other habitat on the immediate coastline. This is a taprooted perennial herb producing a branching erect stem to heights between about 1 and 2 meters. The basal leaves are made up of oval-shaped leaflets each up to 10 centimeters long, with toothed edges and white woolly undersides. The woolly inflorescences are compound umbels of up to 60 rays holding clusters of fuzzy flowers. The flowers yield fruits which are paired bodies nearly a centimeter long each containing a seed.

Antennaria suffrutescens is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names evergreen pussytoes and evergreen everlasting. It is native to southwestern Oregon and far northeastern California. It grows in coniferous forests in the mountains, sometimes on serpentine soils.

<i>Antennaria umbrinella</i> Species of flowering plant

Antennaria umbrinella is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae known by the common names umber pussytoes and brown pussytoes. It is native to southwestern Canada and the western United States as far south as Colorado, Coconino County in Arizona, and Tulare County in California). It grows in a variety of habitats at a variety of elevations, from lowland sagebrush steppe to subalpine meadows.

<i>Anulocaulis annulatus</i> Species of flowering plant

Anulocaulis annulatus is a species of flowering plant in the four o'clock family known by the common name valley ringstem. It is endemic to the Mojave Desert of California, especially in the vicinity of Death Valley. This is a perennial herb growing a number of thin, erect stems sometimes exceeding a meter in height from a thick caudex.

<i>Brodiaea elegans</i> Species of flowering plant

Brodiaea elegans is a species of flowering plant in the cluster-lily genus known by the common names harvest brodiaea, elegant brodiaea, and elegant cluster-lily.

<i>Calochortus elegans</i> Species of flowering plant

Calochortus elegans is a species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common name elegant Mariposa lily, cat's ear, elegant cat's ears or star tulip. It is native to the western United States from northern California to Montana.

Microseris acuminata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Sierra foothill silverpuffs. It is native to the Central Valley of California and the mountain ranges, including the Sierra Nevada, surrounding it. There is a disjunct occurrence in Jackson County, Oregon. The plant grows in grassy habitat, woodlands, and sometimes the edges of vernal pools.

Microseris bigelovii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name coastal silverpuffs. It is native to the west coast of North America, where its range extends from the southern tip of Vancouver Island to the northern coast of California.

Microseris campestris is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name San Joaquin silverpuffs. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the San Joaquin Valley and adjacent Sierra Nevada foothills, and the central California Coast Ranges. It is a resident of grassland and open slope habitats, sometimes near vernal pools.

<i>Microseris douglasii</i> Species of flowering plant

Microseris douglasii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Douglas' silverpuffs. It is native to western North America from Oregon and California to Baja California. It grows in several types of habitat, including grassland and vernal pools, and on soils containing clay and serpentine.

<i>Microseris laciniata</i> Species of flowering plant

Microseris laciniata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name cutleaf silverpuffs. It is native to the western United States from Washington to northern California and Nevada, where it grows in forest and grassland habitat.

Microseris paludosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names marsh silverpuffs and marsh microseris. It is endemic to California, where it has a scattered distribution between southern Mendocino and northern San Luis Obispo Counties, mainly near the coast. Its habitat includes coastal scrub and grassland and coniferous forest.

<i>Microseris sylvatica</i> Species of flowering plant

Microseris sylvatica is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names sylvan scorzonella and woodland silverpuffs. It is endemic to California, where it has a scattered distribution throughout the central California Coast Ranges and inland mountain ranges, including the Sierra Nevada of the state. Its habitat includes grassland and openings in wooded areas.

<i>Senecio elegans</i> Species of flowering plant

Senecio elegans is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names redpurple ragwort, purple groundsel, wild cineraria and purple ragwort.

<i>Microseris heterocarpa</i> Species of plant

Microseris heterocarpa, known by the common name grassland silverpuffs, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae.

Erythronium elegans is a rare species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common names Coast Range fawnlily and elegant fawnlily. It is endemic to Oregon in the United States, where it is known from about 12 occurrences in the northern Coast Range.