''Chorizanthe douglasii'' is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family known by the common names San Benito spineflower and Douglas' spineflower. 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 ...

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 ...

, where it grows in the mountains of the Southern

California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. P ...

, from the

Santa Lucia Range The Santa Lucia Mountains (sæntə luˈsiːə) or Santa Lucia Range is a rugged mountain range in coastal central California, running from Carmel southeast for to the Cuyama River in San Luis Obispo County. The range is never more than from t ...

east to the

Gabilan Range The Gabilan Range or Gabilán Range (Spanish for "sparrow hawk") are a mountain range in the inner California Coast Ranges System, located in Monterey County and San Benito County of central California. Pinnacles National Park is located in the so ...

Description

It is an erect herb producing a hairy stem up to about half a meter in maximum height. The leaves are up to 4 centimeters long and mainly arranged about the base of the plant, with a whorl of leaves at the middle of the stem as well. 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 a cluster of flowers, each surrounded by six purple to bright pink

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s which may be all fused together. The bracts are tipped in straight awns. The flower itself is 3 or 4 millimeters wide and white or pink in color.

References

External links

Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Chorizanthe douglasii''UC CalPhotos gallery of ''Chorizanthe douglasii''
douglasii Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of Monterey County, California Natural history of San Benito County, California Natural history of San Luis Obispo County, California Gabilan Range ~ ~ Taxa named by George Bentham Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polygonaceae-stub