Helminthotheca
Cat. Pl. Hort. Gott., 430. 1757.
| Taxon | Illustrator ⠉ | |
|---|---|---|
 | Helminthotheca echioides Rhagadiolus stellatus Hedypnois cretica | Barbara Alongi Marjorie C. Leggitt Barbara Alongi |
Annuals or biennials, 10–100+ cm; taprooted. Stems usually 1, erect, branched distally or throughout, hirsute to hispid or setose (hair tips 2–4-hooked). Leaves basal and cauline; basal ± petiolate, distal sessile; blades elliptic, lanceolate, oblanceolate, oblong, or ovate, margins usually dentate to pinnately lobed (faces hirsute to hispid, hair tips 2–4-hooked). Heads borne singly or in loose, corymbiform arrays. Peduncles (terminal and axillary) not inflated distally, seldom bracteate. Calyculi of (3–) 5, cordate or ovate to lanceovate, foliaceous bracts. Involucres ovoid to urceolate, 9–12+ mm diam. (larger in fruit). Phyllaries (5–) 8–13+ in 1 series, lance-linear to linear, subequal, margins little, if at all, scarious, apices acuminate. Receptacles flat, pitted, glabrous, epaleate. Florets 30–60+; corollas yellow (often reddish abaxially). Cypselae (dimorphic): outer whitish, bodies gibbous, ribs 5–10, beaks about equaling bodies, fragile, faces hirtellous to pilosulous adaxially; inner reddish-brown, bodies ± compressed-ellipsoid to fusiform, beaks about equaling or longer than bodies, fragile, faces transversely rugulose to muricate, otherwise glabrous; pappi persistent, of 10–15+, whitish, subequal, barbellate or plumose, subulate to setiform (basally connate) scales in 1–2 series. x = 5.
Distribution
Introduced; Europe, widely
Discussion
Species 4 (1 in the flora).
Selected References
Lower Taxa
"fine" is not a number.