Stephanomeria virgata
Encyclopedia
Stephanomeria virgata, commonly called twiggy wreath plant, virgate wirelettuce, and rod wirelettuce, is a herbaceous annual plant
of the sunflower family, Asteraceae
. It can be found growing in Western North America, specifically California, but also in Oregon and Nevada and northern Mexico. This plant can be found in dry, open habitat types at elevations below 2100 meters. S. virgata is sometimes used as an ornamental plant
.
occur at intervals on the branches and contain 5 to 9 ray florets. The fruit is an achene
with a pappus
of white bristles.
.
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...
of the sunflower family, Asteraceae
Asteraceae
The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...
. It can be found growing in Western North America, specifically California, but also in Oregon and Nevada and northern Mexico. This plant can be found in dry, open habitat types at elevations below 2100 meters. S. virgata is sometimes used as an ornamental plant
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
.
Description
Stephanomeria virgata is an annual plant and grows 5 to 30 centimeters tall. The stem may be hairless or woolly. It is long and has dense branches. Leaves on the lower plant are rosetted around the base. They are oblong and lobed. On the upper plant the leaves are small, linear in shape, and smooth edged without lobes. Flower headsHead (botany)
The capitulum is considered the most derived form of inflorescence. Flower heads found outside Asteraceae show lesser degrees of specialization....
occur at intervals on the branches and contain 5 to 9 ray florets. The fruit is an achene
Achene
An achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate and indehiscent...
with a pappus
Pappus (flower structure)
The pappus is the modified calyx, the part of an individual disk, ray or ligule floret surrounding the base of the corolla, in flower heads of the plant family Asteraceae. The pappus may be composed of bristles , awns, scales, or may be absent. In some species, the pappus is too small to see...
of white bristles.
Early Classification
Stephanomeria virgata formerly included plants that now belong to the species Stephanomeria diegensisStephanomeria diegensis
Stephanomeria diegensis is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name San Diego wirelettuce. It is native to the coastal hills and ranges of southern California and Baja California, where it grows in many types of open habitat. It evolved as a hybrid of Stephanomeria...
.