Pectocarya heterocarpa (Chuckwalla Combseed)

2/27/05 Henderson Canyon Road, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego County, CA

CNPS (Riverside-San Bernardino Chapter) trip

LIFE LIST NOTES:

COMMON NAME: Chuckwalla Combseed

SPECIES: Pectocarya heterocarpa

FAMILY: Boraginaceae (Borage Family)

LIFE LIST DATE: 2/27/2005

LOCATION: Henderson Canyon Road, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego County, CA, CNPS (Riverside-San Bernardino Chapter) trip

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Treatment from The Jepson Manual (1993):

Stem prostrate to ascending, 2–25 cm

Inflorescence: pedicel in fruit 1.3–2.8 mm, partly fused to 1 nutlet

Flowers: basal cleistogamous; in fruit lower 3 sepals unequal, < others

Fruit: nutlet 1.2–3 mm, oblong to oblanceolate; basal nutlets 2–4 per flower, not paired, reflexed, 1 unmargined, others narrowly entire- to ± dentate-margined; cauline nutlets paired, curved, margins ± entire (and narrowly to widely membranous) to dentate

Ecology: Washes, roadsides, openings in creosote-bush scrub, Joshua-tree woodland

Elevation: < 1400 m.  

Bioregional distribution: Southwestern California, White and Inyo Mountains, Desert 

Distribution outside California: to Utah, Texas, nw Mexico

Flowering time: Feb–May