Perennials, 30-120 cm (caudices woody, 2-8+ mm diam.); herbage unscented. Stems erect, glabrous. Leaves narrowly linear, 10-50 × 1-2 mm (sometimes smaller, bractlike distally), margins with 0-1 pairs of setae, faces glabrous (abaxial dotted near each margin with a row of elliptic oil-glands ca. 0.3 mm). Heads borne singly or in open, cymiform arrays. Peduncles 10-80 mm. Involucres cylindric. Phyllaries distinct, linear-oblong, 5-9.5 × 1-1.5 mm (each dotted with 1-2 swollen, subapical oil-glands and a row of 2-3 linear, submarginal oil-glands on each side of midrib). Ray florets 5; corollas 6-11 mm (laminae often dotted near margins with inconspicuous oil-glands). Disc florets 4-7; corollas 3.7-6 mm (lobes 5, equal, each with 1 subterminal oil-gland). Cypselae 3.5-5 mm, puberulent (hair tips blunt); pappi of 1-3 stout awns 1-2 mm or coroniform. 2n = 24.
Flowering Aug-Oct. Pine-oak-juniper woodlands, grasslands, arid shrublands; 1000-1700 m; Ariz.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora).
Pectis imberbis occurs in relatively small, widely separated populations. Overgrazing may be a factor in the scarcity of these plants. They are generally more than 25 cm before they begin to flower and may be unable to reproduce under grazing pressure.
Duration: Perennial
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Forb/Herb
General: Herbaceous perennials, to 100 cm tall, erect, stiff, herbage glabrous, unscented, arising from a woody rootstock.
Leaves: Opposite, narrowly linear, glandular-punctate, faces glabrous, dotted underneath near each margin with a row of elliptic oil-glands, margins entire, with 0-1 pairs of stiff bristles near the base, reducing apically, sometimes appearing as bractlets beneath the inflorescence.
Flowers: Heads small, radiate, rays 5, yellow, sometimes with purple streaks, the corollas 6-11 mm, disk flowers yellow, 4-7, involucres cylindric, phyllaries in a single series, sometimes purple-tinged, distinct, linear-oblong, 5-9.5 mm long, 1.5 mm wide, each dotted with 1-2 swollen, subapical oil-glands and a row of 2-3 linear, submarginal oil-glands on each side of midrib, inflorescences borne solitary or in small cymes.
Fruits: Achenes puberulent, 3.5-5 mm long. Pappus of 1-3 erect subulate awns amid short scales.
Ecology: Found in pine-oak-juniper woodlands, grasslands, arid shrublands, from 4,000-5,500 ft (1219-1676 m); flowering August-October.
Distribution: Arizona; Mexico.
Ethnobotany: Unknown
Etymology: Pectis is from the Greek pecteo, to comb, while imberbis means without a beard.
Synonyms: None
Editor: LCrumbacher 2011
