Aspicarpa hirtella L.C. Rich.
Family: Malpighiaceae
chaparral asphead,  more...
Aspicarpa hirtella image
Gene Sturla  
Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Herbaceous perennials, stems trailing, sometimes reddish, herbage with hairs affixed at the middle (dolabriform).

Leaves: Opposite, oblong-lanceolate to ovate, margins entire, sessile or borne on short petioles.

Flowers: Yellow, dimorphic, some cleistogamous and without petals, the ones with petals have 5, these abruptly contracted into claws, sepals 5, these with a pair of conspicuous fleshy glands at the base, filaments stout, united at the base, cleistogamous flowers borne axillary, long-peduncled to nearly sessile, the ones with petals are in small terminal clusters.

Fruits: Strongly keeled, tuberculate nutlets, borne in pairs.

Ecology: Found in Southern Arizona in chaparral communities; 4,000-5,500 ft (1219-1676 m); flowering August-September.

Distribution: s AZ, sw NM; south to c MEX.

Notes: Distinguished by its trailing, low-growing but not vine-like habit with reddish stems; hairs attached at the middle all over; opposite oblong-lanceolate leaves; and 5 separate yellow petals with fringed margins.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Unknown

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011, FSCoburn 2015

Aspicarpa hirtella image
Gene Sturla  
Aspicarpa hirtella image
Aspicarpa hirtella image
Aspicarpa hirtella image
Aspicarpa hirtella image
Aspicarpa hirtella image
Aspicarpa hirtella image
Aspicarpa hirtella image
Gene Sturla