''Baileya pauciradiata'' is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family which is known by the common names laxflower and Colorado desert marigold. It is native to the deserts of northwestern Mexico and the

southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

. It has been found in the States of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, and

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

.Shreve, F. & I. L. Wiggins. 1964. Vegetation and Flora of the Sonoran Desert 2 vols. Stanford University Press, Stanford.

Description

''Baileya pauciradiata'' is an annual or perennial herb with a gray-green downy stem branching to heights between 10 and 50 centimeters. The leaves are linear or lance-shaped and measure 4 to 14 centimeters long. Those at the base of the plant wither while those along the stem generally remain as the plant flowers. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is composed of 2 or 3 flower heads. Each has a few three-lobed yellow

ray florets The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

around a center of yellow

disc floret The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

s. The fruit is a club-shaped

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

about half a centimeter long.

Food source

This plant is the main food source for the sand dune dwelling moth '' Schinia pallicincta''.Flora of North America, ''Baileya pauciradiata'' Harvey & A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 105. 1849
/ref>

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUnited States Department of Agriculture Plants ProfileCalphotos Photo gallery, University of California
Helenieae Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Plants described in 1849 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Helenieae-stub