''Chorizanthe uniaristata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Polygonaceae 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 name one-awn 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 ...

to central

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 is known from several of the local mountain ranges, as well as the Central Coast. It grows in sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils 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 woodland. This plant has upright or decumbent stems up to about 25 centimeters in length. It is hairy and gray, green, or 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 cluster of flowers, with each flower surrounded by an array of six hairy

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. One bract is much longer than the others and has a long, straight awn; the other bracts have hooked awns. The flower is 2 or 3 millimeters long and usually white.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Chorizanthe uniaristata'' (One awn spineflower)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Chorizanthe uniaristata''UC Photos gallery: ''Chorizanthe uniaristata''
uniaristata Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Plants described in 1870 Taxa named by Asa Gray Taxa named by John Torrey {{Polygonaceae-stub