''Blepharizonia plumosa'' is a

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 ...

species of tarweed known by the common name big tarweed. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to central

, where it grows in the Central Coast Ranges and adjacent sections of the southern

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

and Central Valley, from southern

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...

south as far as

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Mission ...

Description

This is a

glandular In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). Structure De ...

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...

annual herb producing a hairy, erect stem which may approach two meters (80 inches) in height. The leaves are linear in shape and sometimes toothed, the largest located near the base of the plant reaching 15 centimeters (6 inches) long. 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 ...

bears several

flower heads A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

, each with a fringe of up to 13 red-veined white

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 ...

just under a centimeter long. The center of each head is filled with protruding tubular

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 with large dark

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

. The fruit is a hairy, 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 ...

which may or may not have a pappus at the tip.Flora of North America, ''Blepharizonia plumosa'' (Kellogg) Greene
/ref> ''Blepharizonia'' is sometimes treated as a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus, and sometimes as a genus with two species. One variety or subspecies of ''B. plumosa'' is sometimes treated as a distinct species called ''

Blepharizonia laxa ''Blepharizonia laxa'' is a California species of tarweed known by the common name glandular big tarweed. Distribution The plant is endemic to central California, where it grows in the Central Coast Ranges and adjacent areas of the southern Sa ...

''.Greene, Edward Lee 1885. Bulletin of the California Academy of Sciences 1(4D): 279
/ref>

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Blepharizonia plumosa'' (Big tarweed)Jepson Manual TreatmentUnited States Department of Agriclulture Plants ProfileCalphotos Photo gallery, University of California
Madieae Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Plants described in 1873 Taxa named by Edward Lee Greene Taxa named by Albert Kellogg Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Asteroideae-stub