Eriophyllum confertiflorum

Eriophyllum confertiflorum
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Genus: Eriophyllum
Species: E. confertiflorum
Binomial name
Eriophyllum confertiflorum
Synonyms[1]

Eriophyllum confertiflorum, commonly called golden yarrow or yellow yarrow,[2] is a North American species of plants in the (sunflower family), native to California and Baja California. It has wooly leaves when young, and yellow flower heads.[3] "Eriophyllum" means "wooly leaved.[3][4]

Eriophyllum confertiflorum gets its common name from the similar appearance of its inflorescence to the true yarrow, which has white flowers.[3][5][6]

Habitat and distribution

Eriophyllum confertiflorum is a highly variable plant which is generally a small shrub. It grows primarily in the Sierra Nevada and Coastal Ranges in California and Baja California. It can be found in a number of plant communities and habitats. In the Santa Monica Mountains of California, it is common in open places that are away from the coast.[3]

Eriophyllum confertiflorum grows in large clumps or stands of many erect stems often exceeding 50 cm (20 inches) in height. Botanist Nancy Dale describes the growth pattern as "tidy".[3] Leaves are alternate.[3] Leaves and stems are whitish when young, because of being covered in wooly white hairs, then become greenish to gray-green.[3] Leaves have 3-5 deep lobes.[3] Yellow flowers are crowded in the head, which is up to 3/8 inch (0.94 cm) across, flat-topped, with both disc flowers and ray flowers.[3] "Confertiflorum" means densely flowered.[3] It blooms from January to July.[3] The fruit is an achene with a very short pappus. The top of each stem forms an inflorescence of up to 30} flower heads, each bright golden yellow head with a large center of disc florets and usually a fringe of rounded to oval ray florets.[2]

Varieties[2][6][1]
  • Eriophyllum confertiflorum var. confertiflorum - most of species range
  • Eriophyllum confertiflorum var. tanacetiflorum (Greene) Jeps. - Sierra Nevada foothills + San Gabriel Mountains
  • Eriophyllum confertiflorum var. trifidum (Nutt.) A.Gray - California coast between Santa Barbara + Monterey[7]

References

The buds are small, oval, and greenish-white.


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