''Myosurus apetalus'' is a species of flowering plant in the
buttercup family
Ranunculaceae (buttercup or crowfoot family; Latin "little frog", from "frog") is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide.
The largest genera are ''Ranunculus'' (600 species), ''Delphinium' ...
known by the common name bristly mousetail. It is native to much of western North America, as well as
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. It grows in moist and wet habitat, such as
marsh
A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...
es, meadows, and
vernal pool
Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe ...
s. It is an annual plant forming a small tuft up to about 12 centimeters tall. The leaves are linear and narrow, sometimes threadlike, and reach up to 6 centimeters in length. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...
produces a single flower which has an elongated, cylindrical or cone-shaped
receptacle up to 1.5 centimeters long. At the base of the receptacle are small greenish
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 coine ...
s and sometimes petals 1 or 2 millimeters long, although the petals are often absent.
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileFlora of North AmericaPhoto gallery
Ranunculaceae
{{Ranunculales-stub