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Hymenopappus
newberryi (Wild Cosmos) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Montane. Openings. Summer. Hymenopappus newberryi enjoys open,
sunny mountain hillsides, often, as in this case, hot, south-facing
hillsides. H. newberryi typically grows at the bottom of
these hillsides so it receives good moisture draining from above. Plants
grow from eight to twenty-four inches tall with a basal rosette of finely cut
leaves about five inches high and ten inches in diameter.
One-to-five stem leaves are quite short and as finely cut as the basal
leaves. (One stem leaf is visible on the right side of the main
tan stem at the nine inch mark of the ruler and is blown up here.) The finely cut leaves are similar to those of Hymenopappus filifolius. Hymenopappus newberryi occurs only in a few counties of Colorado and New Mexico. It is found nowhere else in the world. Asa Gray named this species Leucampyx newberryi in 1874 and M. Johnston renamed it Hymenopappus newberryi in 1923. John Strong Newberry (1822-1892) was an American physician, professor, geologist, paleontologist, and botanist. (Click for more biographical information about Newberry.) "Hymenopappus" refers to the membranous, scale-like pappus. |
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Hymenopappus
newberryi (Wild Cosmos) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Montane. Openings. Summer. |
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Hymenopappus
newberryi (Wild Cosmos) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Montane. Openings. Summer. Bright white rays spread widely exposing the numerous tiny yellow disk flowers. Green phyllaries are broad, in a single row, and hairy. |
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Hymenopappus
newberryi (Wild Cosmos) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Montane. Openings. Summer. In Asteraceae, the "pappus" is the modified calyx, made of hairs, bristles, or scales that are attached at the apex of the achene (the sunflower seed). In the Hymenopappus genus the pappus usually consists of short, membrane-like scales. Hymenopappus newberryi can have no pappus (as in this photograph) or it can have a minute pappus of .01-.1 millimeter. The photograph shows two complete disk flowers, the left one fully open, and the right one in bud. Each of the flowers, including the seed, is about five millimeters. The pappus would be attached at the top of the white portion which is the achene, the seed. The tiny, glistening dots (visible especially at the bottom of the right bud where it is constricted) are minute glandular hairs. The pink background is my finger. |
Range map © John Kartesz,
County Color Key
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Range map for Hymenopappus newberryi |