''Chorizanthe leptotheca'' is a species of flowering plant in the

buckwheat family The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The name is based on the genus ''Polygonum'', and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 ...

known by the common names Ramona spineflower and Peninsular spineflower. It is native to the

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...

of southern

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 ...

and

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 ...

, where it grows in

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

and forest habitat. It is very similar to its close relative, Turkish rugging (''

Chorizanthe staticoides ''Chorizanthe staticoides'' is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family known by the common name Turkish rugging. It is endemic to California, where it is a common member of the flora in the chaparral and scrub habitats in a number o ...

''). ''Chorizanthe leptotheca'' is an erect herb growing up to about 35 centimeters tall. The leaves are basal, oval in shape and up to about 3 centimeters long. The herbage is fuzzy to quite hairy in texture, and generally reddish in color. 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 loose cluster of flowers, each surrounded by six reddish

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 coated in curly hairs and tipped in hooked awns. The flower itself is up to 6 millimeters wide, pink or red in color and hairy.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Chorizanthe leptotheca''
leptotheca Flora of California Flora of Baja California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Taxa named by George Bentham {{Polygonaceae-stub