''Ivesia aperta'' is a species of flowering plant in the rose family known by the common name Sierra Valley mousetail. It is native to the High Sierra Nevada and

Modoc Plateau __NOTOC__ The Modoc Plateau lies in the northeast corner of California as well as parts of Oregon and Nevada. Nearly of the Modoc National Forest are on the plateau between the Medicine Lake Highlands in the west and the Warner Mountains in the ...

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

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, where it grows in dry meadows on volcanic soils.

Descriptions

''Ivesia aperta'' is a perennial herb forming tufts of narrow, erect leaves and an erect stem reaching 10 to 45 centimeters in height. The stem is reddish and covered in a coat of shiny white hairs. The leaves emerge from the very base of the stem and reach erect to heights of 10 to 20 centimeters. Each leaf is made up of tightly overlapping white-hairy green leaflets. The stem and foliage are generally glandular and have a resinous scent. Atop the stem is an

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 ...

of several flower clusters, each cluster made up of 5 to 20 small yellow glandular flowers. Each individual flower has five thick, pointed, hairy

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s and five much smaller spoon-shaped yellow petals. At the center are many

stamen 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 filame ...

s and several

pistils Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

. The fruit is a tiny brown

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 ...

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhotos: var. ''aperta''Photos: var. ''canina''
aperta Flora of California Flora of Nevada Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) ~ Endemic flora of the United States {{rosoideae-stub