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   In the Four Corners area there are about five Stephanomeria species, several annual and several perrenial.  Shown below are two perrenial Stephanomeria which supposedly are distinct species.  I say "supposedly distinct species" because Cronquist's Intermountain Flora, Welsh's A Utah Flora, and Weber's Colorado Flora disagree on a number of the plants' morphological characteristics, e.g. Weber indicates that S. pauciflora is "tall and slender-stemmed" and P. tenuifolia is "low and stout-stemmed" but Welsh indicates that P. pauciflora is the shorter of the two (30-60 cm tall versus 25-105 cm) and S. pauciflora has "stems not very slender" versus those of S. tenuifolia which have "stems very slender".  Cronquist indicates that the two plants are of the same height (20-70 centimeters) and does not comment on the stoutness of the stems.  Could it be that these supposedly distinct species are the same? 

   I find that the two species are very similar in almost all aspects of their morphology with, perhaps, S. pauciflora having more vertical, less intricately branched, and thinner stems.  But I have not carefully observed enough Stephanomeria species to be sure of these distinctions.  I will provide more photographs of these characteristics and the pappus hairs in future years.

   Cronquist, Welsh, and Weber do agree on one characteristic separating the two species: the pappus hairs of S. tenuifolia are plumose to their base; the pappus hairs of S. pauciflora are plumose only on the upper 2/3 of their length.  To me that hardly seems enough to separate these into two distinct species.

   Stephanomeria plants are fairly common but easily overlooked.

   "Stephanomeria" was named by Thomas Nuttall in 1841 from two different annual species he collected in 1834 on his trek from St. Louis to the Pacific.  "Steph" and "meris" are from the Greek for "crown" and "part" and apparently refer to some shape of the pappus that Nuttall perceived.

 

 

Stephanomeria pauciflora
Stephanomeria pauciflora (Wirelettuce)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothill canyons.  Rocks, openings. Summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, September 19, 2005.

Stephanomeria pauciflora has a very slender, nearly vertical mass of thin, green stems with scattered pink/purple/white flowers.  Last year's dried, almost white stems are almost always present at the bottom of the new green growth. Look for Wirelettuce in the sandy crevices of rocky canyon areas. 

As noted above, Thomas Nuttall named this genus in 1841, but in 1827 John Torrey had named this species Prenanthes pauciflora from a specimen collected by Edwin James in the Rockies.  In 1909 Aven Nelson re-examined Prenanthes pauciflora and realized that it belonged in the genus that Nuttall had created.  Nelson renamed the species "Stephanomeria pauciflora". "Pauciflora" is Latin for "few flowers".
Stephanomeria pauciflora
Stephanomeria pauciflora (Wirelettuce)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothill canyons.  Rocks, openings. Summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, September 19, 2005. 

Numerous tightly rolled, narrow buds open over many days. 
Stephanomeria pauciflora (Wirelettuce)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothill canyons.  Rocks, openings. Summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, September 19, 2005. 
Stephanomeria tenuifolia
Stephanomeria tenuifolia (Wirelettuce)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothill canyons.  Rocks, openings. Summer.
Butler Wash, Utah, August 27, 2007.

Weber indicates that S. tenuifolia is "+- divaricately branched [diverging at a sharp angle], forming hemispherical bush growths" and that certainly fits the specimen at left.  Thickly plumose pappus hairs of the faded flowers can be seen throughout the plant at left.

This species, as the one above, also had its days of misidentification.  It was first given the genus name Prenanthes or Ptiloria around 1830 by Torrey and Rafinesque and then renamed Stephanomeria in 1907 by Harvey Hall.
Stephanomeria tenuifolia
Stephanomeria tenuifolia (Wirelettuce)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothill canyons.  Rocks, openings. Summer.
Butler Wash, Utah, August 27, 2007.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Stephanomeria pauciflora  

Range map for Stephanomeria tenuifolia