''Enceliopsis covillei'', known by the common name Panamint daisy, is a rare

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n desert species of flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

Distribution

The perennial plant 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 ...

, within

Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka ...

Inyo County Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is o ...

. It is only known from the rocky slopes of the western

Panamint Range The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. Dr. Darwin French is credited as applying the term Panamint in 1860 during his s ...

sky island Sky islands are topographic isolation, isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments. The term originally referred to those found on the Mexican Plateau, and has extended to similarly isolated montane ecosystems, hi ...

, west of

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 ...

in the northern

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

. The species was named for American botanist

Frederick Vernon Coville Frederick Vernon Coville (March 23, 1867 – January 9, 1937) was an American botanist who participated in the Death Valley Expedition (1890-1891), was honorary curator of the United States National Herbarium (1893-1937), worked at then was Chi ...

(1867–1937), by American botanist

Aven Nelson Aven Nelson (March 24, 1859 – March 31, 1952) was an American botanist who specialized in plants of the Rocky Mountains. He was one of the founding professors of the University of Wyoming, where he taught for 55 years as professor and served as ...

as ''Helianthella covillei''.

Description

''Enceliopsis covillei'' is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herb with erect stems varying in height from 15 to 100 cm (6-40 inches), growing from a tough, woody

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...

. The silvery woolly leaves are up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) long by 8 wide and are spade-shaped to oval to diamond-shaped with winged petioles.Flora of North America, Panamint daisy, ''Enceliopsis covillei'' (A. Nelson) S. F. Blake
/ref> 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 large solitary

flower head A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

on an erect or leaning peduncle which may reach 100 cm (40 inches) tall. The

has a base made up of three layers of pointed

phyllaries In botanical terminology, a phyllary, also known an involucral bract or tegule, is a single bract of the involucre of a composite flower. The involucre is the grouping of bracts together. Phyllaries are reduced leaf-like structures that form one or ...

coated in gray or silvery hairs. The head has a fringe of many yellow

ray florets The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

each up to 5 centimeters (2 inches) long, surrounding many small

disc floret The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

s of the same color. The fruit is an

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 ...

about a centimeter long with a small pappus.

Conservation

An artwork of the Panamint daisy is featured in the logo of the

California Native Plant Society The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) is a California environmental non-profit organization (501(c)3) that seeks to increase understanding of California's native flora and to preserve it for future generations. The mission of CNPS is to con ...

, a renowned botanical, conservation, and education organization in California established in 1965. ''Enceliopsis covillei'' is an endangered species on the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants.California Native Plant Society, Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants (online edition, v8-02): ''Enceliopsis covillei'' report
. accessed 2 April 2017.

References

External links

Calflora Database: ''Enceliopsis covillei'' (Panamint daisy)Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Enceliopsis covillei''USDA Plants Profile of ''Enceliopsis covillei'' (Panamint daisy) Missouri Botanical Garden.org: photo of herbarium specimen, isotype of ''Enceliopsis covillei''
— ''collected in Death Valley in 1891''.
UC Calphotos gallery of ''Enceliopsis covillei'' (Panamint daisy)
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5375334 covillei Endemic flora of California Flora of the California desert regions Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of Inyo County, California Death Valley National Park Panamint Range Plants described in 1895 Taxa named by Aven Nelson