Psathyrotes ramosissima (Torr.) A. Gray
Family: Asteraceae
Velvet Turtleback,  more...
[Tetradymia ramosissima Torr.]
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Charles Webber  
Baldwin 2014 (Jepson Online), FNA 2006, Kearny and Peebles 1979

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Low annual herbs, 3-30 cm high; stems divaricately branching, lanate, scurfy-pubescent, very leafy.

Leaves: Alternate and petiolate; blades rounded-deltate to suborbiculate, 1-2 cm long by 1-3 cm wide, the margins with rounded teeth.

Flowers: Flower heads yellow, discoid, solitary, on peduncles 3 mm to 5 cm long; involucre (ring of bracts wrapped around the flower head) broadly turbinate to campanulate, 6-10 mm high, the bracts (phyllaries) 15-24, in 2 distinct series; outer series of 5-6 phyllaries persistent, the tips spoon-shaped and curling back; inner series of 10-18 phyllaries deciduous, with lanceolate, erect tips; florets 16-32, all discs, the corollas pale yellow, 5 mm long.

Fruits: Achenes 2-3 mm long, topped with a pappus of 120-140 subequal bristles in 2-4 series, 3-4 mm long.

Ecology: Found in sandy soils and desert pavements, below 3,000 ft (914 m); flowers mostly in the spring, and otherwise sporadically, following rains.

Distribution: AZ, CA, and NV; south to n MEX (Baja California, Sonora).

Notes: This low velvety annual is quite distinct; look for the mounded, -turtle-shaped- growth form; the round, furry leaves with impressed veins and rounded teeth along the edges; the solitary discoid flower heads with yellow florets, the flower heads wrapped by 2 series of velvety phyllaries, the outer series strongly curling outward and the inner series hugging the flower head.

Ethnobotany: Shoshoni and Paiute used the plant medicinally, to treat headaches, various intestinal troubles, liver problems, venereal diseases, and tubercular cough; a poultice was applied to sores, cuts, swellings, insect bites, and snakebites; dry bits were chewed for toothache.

Etymology: Psathyrotes from the Greek psathyros, for brittle, fragile, looseness [allusion unclear]; ramosissima means many-branched.

Synonyms: Tetradymia ramosissima

Editor: AHazelton 2015

Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Charles Webber  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Charles Webber  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Charles Webber  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Gerald and Buff Corsi  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Gerald and Buff Corsi  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Gerald and Buff Corsi  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Gerald and Buff Corsi  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Gary A. Monroe  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Barry Breckling  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Barry Breckling  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Dave Sussman  
Psathyrotes ramosissima image
Dave Sussman