font settings and languages

Font Size: Large | Normal | Small
Font Face: Verdana | Geneva | Georgia
Languages:

ZipcodeZoo.com needs to raise another $12,000 in donations by January 1 to continue operation in 2009.
If we cannot meet this goal, this site will go offline January 1. Please click here to donate

Microseris nutans

(Nodding Silver-Puffs)

Common Names

[ Back to top ]

Common Names in English:

Nodding Microceris, Nodding Microseris, Nodding Scorzonella, Nodding Silver-Puffs, Nodding Silverpuffs, Silverpuffs, Yam Daisy

Description

[ Back to top ]

Genus Microseris

Annuals or perennials , 5-120 cm; taprooted or with caudices (in perennial species; M . borealis rhizomatous ). Stems 1-30+, erect . simple or relatively few- to many-branched (naked or leafy proximally and often distally), glabrous or scurfy-pubescent (especially proximal to heads ). Leaves mostly basal, cauline 0 or reduced; petiolate (petioles broad to narrow) ; blades linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate , margins entire , lacerate , dentate , or pinnately lobed (often with narrow rachises and linear lobes; apices acuminate or acute to obtuse , faces glabrous or lightly scurfy-puberulent). Heads borne singly (nodding or inclined in bud, erect in flower and fruit). Peduncles (erect or curved-ascending) not distally inflated, ebracteate (annuals) or leafy (perennials except M. borealis). Calyculi 0 (outer phyllaries forming calyculiform series in annuals). Involucres fusiform , ovoid , globose , or campanulate , 3-30 mm diam. Phyllaries 5-40 in 3-5 series, unequal (outer usually shorter, ± deltate, inner ± lanceolate), herbaceous (midveins often thickened; abaxial faces glabrous or scurfy-puberulent, sometimes black-villous, often adaxially black-villous and minutely white-strigillose). Receptacles flat to low-convex, pitted , glabrous, epaleate. Florets 5-300; corollas yellow to orange or white, outer often purplish abaxially. Cypselae gray to brown or purplish, sometimes purplish-spotted, columnar , obconic, or fusiform (basal callosities knoblike), apices truncate, ribs 10-15, smooth or scabrous (white-villous on marginal cypselae in some species) ; pappi persistent , usually of 5-30, silvery to yellowish, brownish, or blackish aristate scales (often reduced to 0-4 in M. douglasii, of 24-48 bristles in M. borealis), scale bodies deltate, lanceolate, oblong , ovate , orbiculate, or linear, apices obtuse to acute or lacerate, faces glabrous or villous , aristae barbellulate to barbellate or plumose . x = 9.

Species 14: w North America, South America, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia.

A broad circumscription of Microseris, including Apargidium and excluding Nothocalaïs, has usually been accepted (e.g. , K . L. Chambers 1955, 1960). Recently, molecular data have led to reinstatement of the monotypic genus Uropappus and separation of two other species as the allotetraploid genus Stebbinsoseris (R. K. Jansen et al. 1991b; Chambers 1993c). A large body of literature has resulted from use of Microseris as a model genetic system by K. Bachmann and colleagues (e.g., Bachmann et al. 1979; Bachmann 1992; Bachmann and J. Battjes 1994). Differences in the diploid DNA amount within and between species have been studied by H. J. Price and colleagues (Price and Bachmann 1975; Price et al. 1981, 1983). Additional genetic studies, not referenced here, have involved three species from Australia, New Zealand, and Chile, widely disjunct from the main center of distribution in western North America. Ten of the species are diploid (2n = 18) ; the four tetraploid species (2n = 36) are of alloploid origin . The nine North American perennial taxa are closely related and mostly allopatric , occupying different habitats or climatic zones. The five annual species , which sometimes occur in sympatric clusters , are difficult to distinguish without the presence of cypselae.

In keys and descriptions , measurements of pappus scales exclude aristae.Kenton L. Chambers "Microseris". in Flora of North America Vol. 19, 20 and 21 Page 217, 218, 322, 335, 338, 343, 346, 374. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Physical Description

Species Microseris nutans

Perennials , 10-70 cm; taprooted . Stems branched, leafy distally. Leaves basal and cauline; petiolate (proximally, distal often sessile, clasping ) ; blades linear to oblanceolate , 5-30 cm, margins entire or remotely dentate to pinnately lobed (usually with narrow rachises and linear teeth or lobes ), apices acuminate, faces glabrous or lightly scurfy-puberulent. Peduncles erect or ascending (4-35 cm), ebracteate or leafy. Involucres broadly to narrowly ovoid in fruit, 8-22 mm. Phyllaries: apices erect, abaxial faces glabrous or scurfy-puberulent; outer lanceolate to triangular or linear, apices acute or acuminate; inner lanceolate, apices acuminate, both faces usually lightly black-villous. Florets 10-75; corollas yellow, surpassing phyllaries by 5+ mm. Cypselae columnar , 3.5-8 mm; pappi of 15-30, silvery, linear to lanceolate or oblong , (flat, glabrous) aristate scales 1-3(-5) mm (margins entire, apices acute or lacerate ), aristae (slender) plumose . 2n = 18. [source]

Habit: Forb/herb • Growth Form: Single Crown • Shape and Orientation: Erect

Flowers: Bloom Period: April, May, June, July. • Flower Color: Yellow • Flower Conspicuous: Yes

Seeds: Seed per Pound: 215692 • Seed Spread Rate: Moderate • Seedling Vigor: Medium • Fruit/Seed Abundance: Medium • Fruit/Seed Color: White • Fruit/Seed Conspicuous: Yes • Cold Stratification Required: No

Foliage: Foliage Color: Green • Foliage Porosity Summer: Porous • Foliage Porosity Winter: Porous • Foliage Texture: Fine • Fall Conspicuous: Yes • Leaf Retention: No

Size/Age/Growth

Active Growth Period: Spring and Summer • Growth Rate: Rapid • After Harvest Regrowth Rate: Slow • Mature Height (feet): 2.0 • Size: 6-12" tall. • Vegetative Spread Rate: None • Lifespan: Lifespan

Habitat

Various soils, grasslands, brushlands , woodlands, and coniferous forests ; 100-3000 m (Ref. 101734).

Biology

[ Back to top ]

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial • Coppice Potential: No • Progagated by Bulbs: No • Propagated by Bare Root: No • Propagated by Container: No • Propagated by Corms: No • Propagated by Cuttings: No • Propagated by Seed: Yes • Propagated by Sod: No • Propagated by Sprigs: No • Propagated by Tubers: Yes • Fruit/Seed Period Begin: Summer • Fruit/Seed Period End: Summer • Fruit/Seed Persistence: No

Growth

Culture: Space 6-9" apart.

Soil: Adapted to Medium Textured: Adapted to Medium Textured Soils • Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils: No • Anaerobic Tolerance: Low • Salinity Tolerance: None • CaCO3 Tolerance: Low • Minimum pH: 6.0 • Maximum pH: 7.2 • Fertility Requirement: Low

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun . • Shade Tolerance: Tolerant

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: Medium • Minimum Precipitation: 16 • Maximum Precipitation: 60 • Moisture Use: Medium

Temperature: Minimum Temperature (F): -28 • Minimum Frost Free Days: 120 • Cold Hardiness: 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b. (map)

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Ptilocalais nutans (Hook.) Greene
  2. Scorzonella nutans Hook.
  3. Scorzonella nutans Hooker, London J. Bot. 6: 253. 1847
  4. Scorzonella nutans var. major (Gray) M.E. Peck

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Jahresber. Pollichia 22-24:309. 1866

Name verified on 14-Jun-2000 by ARS Systematic Botanists.

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Members of the genus Microseris

There are approximately 44 species in this genus:

M. acuminata (Sierra Foothill Silverpuffs) · M. aphantocarpha · M. attenuata · M. bigelovii (Coast Microseris) · M. bolanderi · M. borealis (Apargidium) · M. breviseta · M. callicarpha · M. campestris (San Joaquin Silver-Puffs) · M. douglasii (Douglas Silver-Puffs) · M. douglasii douglasii (Douglas' Microseris) · M. douglasii platycarpha (Douglas' Silverpuffs) · M. douglasii tenella (Douglas' Silverpuffs) · M. elegans (Elegant Silver-Puffs) · M. forsteri · M. howellii (Howell's Silver-Puffs) · M. indivisa · M. laciniata (Cut-Leaved Silver-Puffs) · M. laciniata detlingii (Detling's Microseris) · M. laciniata laciniata (Cutleaf Silverpuffs) · M. laciniata leptosepala (Cutleaf Silverpuffs) · M. laciniata var. siskiyouensis · M. laciniata var. siskiyouensis Chambers (Cutleaf Silverpuffs) · M. lanceolata (Murnong) · M. lanceolatus alpinus · M. leptosepala · M. leucocarpha · M. macrochaeta · M. nutans (Nodding Microceris) · M. nutans nutans (Nodding Microceris) · M. nutans siskiyouensis (Nodding Microceris) · M. nutans siskiyouensis var. siskiyouensis · M. paludosa (Marsh Silver-Puffs) · M. platycarpha · M. procera · M. proxima · M. pusilla · M. pygmaea · M. ringens (Microseris) · M. scapigera · M. sylvatica (Sylvan Scorzonella) · M. sylvatica var. stillmani · M. tasmanica · M. tenella

Bibliography

[ Back to top ]

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 19, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

Last Revised: 2008-11-06