Baccharis sergiloides

(Redirected from Squaw waterweed)

Baccharis sergiloides is a species of Baccharis known by the common name desert baccharis.[1]: 126 [2][3]

Baccharis sergiloides
Desert baccharis in the Mojave Desert
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Baccharis
Species:
B. sergiloides
Binomial name
Baccharis sergiloides

Distribution

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The plant is native to the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico, where it grows in wet areas in dry desert and woodland habitat, such as streambeds. It is found in the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Deserts in the States of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Sonora, and Baja California.[2][4]

Description

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Baccharis sergiloides is a shrub producing many erect, branching stems approaching 2 m (6 ft) in maximum height.[2]

The leaves are mostly oval shape and up to about 3 centimetres (1.2 in) long. The leaves generally fall by the time the plant blooms.[2]

The shrub is dioecious, with male and female plants producing flower heads of different types. The head is enclosed in a layer of phyllaries which are glandular and sticky.[2]

The fruit is a ribbed achene with a pappus a few millimeters long.[2]

 
Close-up of flowers.

References

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  1. ^ Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam MacKay, 2nd ed., 2013, ISBN 978-0-7627-8033-4
  2. ^ a b c d e f Flora of North America, Desert baccharis, squaw false willow, Baccharis sergiloides A. Gray in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 83. 1859.
  3. ^ Shreve, F. & I. L. Wiggins. 1964. Vegetation and Flora of the Sonoran Desert 2 vols. Stanford University Press, Stanford.
  4. ^ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
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