Tetrapteron palmeri
Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 214. 2007.
Herbs sparsely to moderately strigose and sometimes also sparsely pilose. Stems rarely present, swollen, ascending to 2 cm. Leaves: blade narrowly oblanceolate, 1.5–5.5 × 0.2–0.7 cm, dilated at base, margins sparsely and evenly serrulate. Flowers opening near sunrise; floral tube 0.8–1.3 mm; sepals 1.6–2.8 mm; petals 2–5 mm; episepalous filaments 0.8–1 mm, epipetalous filaments 0.2 mm; sterile projection of ovary 5.5–12 mm; style 1–2.2 mm, glabrous; stigma 0.3–0.6 mm diam., surrounded by anthers of long and short stamens. Capsules irregularly obovoid, thick-walled, somewhat woody, sharply 4-angled, with pointed wing near center-top of each valve, 5–7 × 4.5–7 mm, tardily dehiscent in distal 1/2 only. Seeds brown, narrowly obovoid, 1.2–2 mm. 2n = 14.
Phenology: Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat: Desert habitats, on clay or sandy soil, creosote to sagebrush-juniper woodlands.
Elevation: 600–1400 m.
Distribution
Ariz., Calif., Nev., Oreg.
Discussion
Tetrapteron palmeri has a disjunct distribution, occurring in four distinct areas: Arizona, represented only by the type specimens collected in the Colorado River valley in 1876; near Harper and Vale, Malheur County, Oregon; north of Winnemucca, Humboldt County, and Empire City, Ormsby County, Nevada; in California it is fairly common from southern Inyo County to the southwestern border of the Mojave Desert, west to the vicinity of Tejon Pass and southeastern San Luis Obispo County in the inner South Coast Ranges, and also east of Jacumba on the road to Mountain Springs in San Diego County.
Selected References
None.