Scorzonera
laciniata
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)
Foothills.
Disturbed sites. Spring, summer.
Near Yellow Jacket Canyon, June 14, 2011.
Scorzonera
laciniata was quite difficult to identify. In fact, it was impossible to identify using Weber's Colorado Flora: Western Slope, for it is not in the latest edition from 2001. The plant also does not appear in Intermountain Flora or A Utah Flora.
I turned to the on-line version of the Flora of North America, but I still could not identify the plant. The correct identification came to me from several folks who responded to my photographs and cries for help on the Listserve of the Native Plant Society of New Mexico.
Once I knew the correct name for this plant, I went back to the FNA, found the plant in the key and worked backwards to see where I had gone wrong. The answer was in the fluffy appendages (the pappus hairs) that you see at left; these are usually called "bristles" but FNA calls them "scales" for this plant. Several times the key asks about these appendages and I chose "bristles" each time.
This made it impossible to arrive at the correct plant identification.
I think the lesson to be learned from my failed keying attempts is that whenever one fails in keying a plant, one should go back over every step in the keying process and try both choices. But even as I type this "lesson learned", I doubt what I am saying. At some point we all must agree on definitions, but at least in this case the FNA has its own definitions:
"Cross sections of bristles and awns are ± circular or polygonal and have the longer diameter of the cross section no more than 3 times the shorter diameter. Pappus elements with "flatter" cross sections (i.e., longer diameter more than 3 times the shorter diameter) are called scales, regardless of relative overall lengths and widths of the elements". In other words, one could have a pappus appendage an inch long but with a cross section of 1/32 of an inch by 4/32 of an inch and this would be called a scale!
I find this definition considerably different from the definition given by all other texts. Why would anyone who speaks English doubt their understanding of the meaning of "bristle"? We are all familiar with fish scales and scaly flesh. The silvery, feathery appendages shown at left are not scales; they are bristles.
Finally, it would often take a microscope to observe the 1-to-3 ratio that FNA proposes. Since the overall, gross structure of pappus hairs is often a major key in identifying Asteraceae, it is not very helpful to the vast majority of people trying to key a plant to tell them they must have a microscope. Strangely though, in the case of Scorzonera, even a naked eye view of the pappus hairs shown at left, shows them to be nearly circular in cross-section. They are thus, even by FNA standards, "bristles". |
Species present in state and native
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