''Gilmania luteola'' (called golden carpet or goldencarpet) is a rare
annual plant in the Buckwheat 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 1 ...
).
[Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam Mackay, 2nd ed., p 250]
It is found only on barren
alkaline slopes in
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth.
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...
California, especially near
Artist's Palette
A palette , in the original sense of the word, is a rigid, flat surface on which a painter arranges and mixes paints. A palette is usually made of wood, plastic, ceramic, or other hard, inert, nonporous material, and can vary greatly in size and ...
.
[
The plant grows in mats very low to the ground.][ There are only five known occurrences as of 2013.][ It grows only in very wet years, which rarely occur in the region.
The yellow flowers are quite small, and the plant has greenish-yellowish ]foliage
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, s ...
. It is the only species in the 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 "unispe ...
genus ''Gilmania''.
References
* Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Jon Mark Stewart, 1998, pg. 56
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment
USDA Plants Profile
Flora of North America
Photo gallery
Monotypic Polygonaceae genera
Flora of California
Natural history of Inyo County, California
Flora without expected TNC conservation status
{{Polygonaceae-stub