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Friday

Pebble Pincushion (Chaenactis carphoclinia)

EFP-P1050040
(Fig. 01)
Picture Notes:  I captured this picture (Fig. 01) on 03/21/2013 while hiking a wash along Lake Mead’s Southshore Road.
 
Description: The Chaenactis carphoclinia, a species of flowering plant in the daisy family commonly known as the Pebble Pincushion, is an annual herb growing an erect, branching stem up to about 20 inches in maximum height. The longest leaves are about 3 inches long and are usually divided into a few lobes. The inflorescence bears a few flower heads, each up to an inch wide. The head is lined with flat, sharp-pointed phyllaries which are reddish in color. The head contains several white or pink-tinted flowers with long, protruding anthers. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters in length tipped with a scaly pappus. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in rocky and gravelly desert habitats.