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Hecastocleis shockleyi |
Hecastocleis shockleyi |
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Trees and Shrubs of Kern County (Sep 2012) Hecastocleis shockleyi A. Gray 1882 Prickleleaf. Shrub with many erect to wide spreading stems, to 1.5 m high, often wider than tall, leaves alternate, sword-shaped with spiny teeth along the margins, to 4 cm long, single or in fascicles. Flowering Apr–Jul, Sep; flower heads at the ends of branches, in fascicles that are surrounded by leaf-like bracts, the bracts forming a “second involucre,” conspicuously larger and shaped differently than leaves, round to oval in outline, reticulate veined and with three primary veins from a common basal point, spiny margined, pale yellow and papery; primary involucre (flower heads) 1-flowered, the bracts narrow, needle-like, spine tipped, in 2–3 graduated series; flowers greenish but reddish purple before male pollen is released. Fruit a catoclesium of pericarpia with involucres surrounded by bracts; pericarpia fusiform with a short crown of scales 1–2 mm long. Limestone rocky slopes with creosote, shadscale, and other shrubs, plants sometimes appear to be growing on other shrubs; southwestern Great Basin Desert and Mojave Desert, 4,000–7,000 ft, southwestern Nevada and adjacent California to near Randsburg. Type from Candelaria, Esmeralda Co., NV. Kern Co.: 4 mi north of Randsburg on Randsburg-Red Rock road (CCH from UCR, M. Yacoe, sandy soil, 11 May 1986).
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