Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Acaulescent perennial herb, 6-25 cm tall, ; herbage glabrous or scabrous; caudex branched; taprooted.

Leaves: Basal, alternate, blade oblong in outline, 1-5 cm long, pinnately compound with leaflets in 2-6 opposite pairs, which are further pinnately lobed to nearly pinnatifid, 3-12 mm long; petiole 1.5-7 cm long.

Flowers: Male and female flowers on same plant (monoecious); inflorescence of mostly terminal (some axillary) spikes, leafless above, often leafy at the base of the inflorescence, erect, rigid, green to silvery green, sometimes tinged reddish; bracts lanceolate to narrowly awl-shaped, 4-7 mm long, 2-3 times as long as the tepals; pistillate flowers with 3-5 tepals, ovate-elliptic or elliptic, the apex awned; staminate flowers clustered at the tips of inflorescence branches, tepals 3-5; flowers July-October.

Fruits: Schizocarp, oblong to ovoid-oblong, 3-8 mm long, with corky-winged ribs, lateral wings 1.5 mm wide, dorsal wings up to 1 mm wide.

Ecology: Rock crevices, rocky slopes, and sandy ground in pinyon- juniper to bristlecone pine communities; 1200-2800 m (3900-9200 ft); Apache, Coconino, Navajo and Yavapai counties; southwestern U.S.

Notes: Aletes macdougalli may be confused with Cymopterus or Pseudocymopterus, both of which are less densely leaved and have more strongly compressed and broadly winged fruits.

Editor: Springer et al. 2008