Ambrosia eriocentra explained

Ambrosia eriocentra is a North American species of ragweed known by the common names woolly bursage and woollyfruit burr ragweed.[1]

Distribution

The plant is native to the Mojave Desert in the southwestern United States, within southern California, southern Nevada, northwestern Arizona, and southwestern Utah.[1]

It grows in the Mojave's plains and mountain ridges up to 1700m (5,600feet) in elevation.[2]

Description

Ambrosia eriocentra is a rounded shrub reaching over 1.5m (04.9feet) in height. The stems are brownish gray in color, with young twigs coated in light woolly fibers and older branches bare. Leaves are lance-shaped and up to 9 centimeters long, not counting the winged petioles. The leaves have rolled lobed or toothed edges.

As in other ragweeds, the inflorescence has a few staminate (male) flower heads next to several single-flowered pistillate heads. The bloom period is April to June.

The fruit is a green burr with long, silky white hairs and several hair-tufted sharp spines. The burr is around a centimeter long.[3] [4]

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=296 Calflora taxon report, University of California, Ambrosia eriocentra (A. Gray) Payne woolly bur sage, wooly bursage
  2. http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Ambrosia%20eriocentra.png Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution map
  3. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250066051 Flora of North America, Vol. 21 Page 13 Ambrosia eriocentra (A. Gray) W. W. Payne, J. Arnold Arbor. 45: 423. 1964.
  4. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8442726#page/426/mode/1up Payne, Willard William 1964. Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 45(4): 423-424