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• Lasthenia minor

Lasthenia minor — coastal goldfields

Facts

Coastal goldfields is endemic to California coastal and inland grasslands, and is rarely if ever found anywhere else, possibly escaping from a garden in Massachusetts.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), meadows and fields

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bract cycle number

  • there are two main cycles of bracts
  • there is one main cycle of bracts

  Bract outer side hair type

  the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces, with curled, tangled, matted, or woolly hairs

  Bract outer side hairs

  the bracts are hairy on their outer surfaces

  Bract separation

  the bracts appear completely unconnected to one another on all flower heads

  Bract shape

  • the main bracts are oblong (roughly rectangular but rounded at the ends)
  • the main bracts are ovate (egg-shaped)

  Bract spines

  the bracts have no spines

  Bract texture

  the bracts have a similar texture to a leaf

  Bract tip orientation

  the bracts are pressed against the plant, or spreading out at the tips

  Bracts

  the bracts in separate cycles are similar or gradually changing from the outer to inner cycles

  Disk flower color

  • orange
  • yellow

  Disk flower lobe number

  • 4
  • 5

  Disk flower number

  • 1-5
  • more than 50

  Disk flower reproductive parts

  the disk flower has both pollen- and seed-producing parts

  Disk flower shape

  the disk flower is tube-shaped (cylindrical), or gradually widening like a funnel

  Flower head outer flowers

  at the outer edge of the flower head, each flower has a single enlarged lobe or strap

  Flower head platform

  the base has no bristles or papery scales

  Flower head position

  • each of the flower heads is separate on its own peduncle (stalk), not clustered in groups
  • some or all the flower heads are grouped in clusters of two or more

  Flower head profile

  the disk is conical across the top

  Flower head shape

  the flower head is hemispherical (like the bottom half of a sphere)

  Flower type in flower heads

  the flower head has tubular disk flowers in the center and ray flowers, these often strap-shaped, around the periphery

  Height of flower head base

  4–6 mm

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Inflorescence shape

  • NA
  • the inflorescence is flat-topped in profile

  Number of bracts at flower head base

  7–14

  Ovary cross-section

  the ovary has five or more corners in cross-section

  Ovary hair type

  • the ovary has hairs on it, but the hairs have no glands
  • the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary hairs

  • the ovary has hairs on it
  • the ovary has no hairs on it

  Ovary profile

  in profile, the ovary is roughly egg-shaped, but widest above the middle

  Peduncle hairs

  • the peduncles are hairy
  • the peduncles have no hairs

  Ray flower color

  yellow

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  the ray flowers have carpels or stamens, but not both

  Ray flowers

  • 11-15
  • 6-10

  Ray length

  4–8 mm

  Reproductive system

  all the flowers on the plant contain both carpels and stamens

  Smaller bracts at base of bracts

  there is a cycle of much smaller bracts outside the cycle of larger and longer bracts

  Style branches

  the style branch is wider at the tip and has a flattened end, or the style branches are wider at the tips and have flattened ends

  Width of flower head base

  3–5 mm

• Fruits or seeds

  Number of pappus parts

  • 0
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  2–2.5 mm

  Seed hair tuft bases

  NA

  Seed hair tuft color

  NA

  Seed hair tuft details

  NA

  Seed hair tuft tips

  • NA
  • at least some of the pappus hairs are broader at their tips than their bases
  • the pappus hairs are slender

  Seed hairs uniform

  NA

  Seed tuft scale number

  • 0–4
  • 0–9

  Seed tuft type

  the pappus is made of flat scales that are not split or frayed at the tips

  Top of disk flower ovary

  NA

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  there is no plume, or the plume is made up of scales, awns, a crown, or a rim

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant has one or more free-standing stems

  Plant lifespan

  the plant is annual, it lacks evidence of previous years' growth

  Spines on plant

  the plant has no spines

  Underground organs

  there is a thickened taproot on the plant

• Leaves

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  • the underside of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy
  • the underside of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf arrangement

  opposite: there are two leaves per node along the stem

  Leaf blade base

  • the leaf has a distinct petiole
  • the leaf has no petiole

  Leaf blade base shape

  the base of the leaf blade is cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapers to the base with relatively straight, converging edges), or narrow

  Leaf blade bloom

  the underside of the leaf has no noticeable bloom

  Leaf blade edges

  • the edge of the leaf blade has no teeth or lobes
  • the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade hairs

  • NA
  • the leaf blade has simple hairs with no glands, and not tangled or wooly

  Leaf blade length

  20–120 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  the leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)

  Leaf blade veins

  the leaf blade has one main vein running from the base towards the tip

  Leaf blade width

  1–10 mm

  Leaf disposition

  the leaves are nearly similar in size, prominence of teeth, and length of stalks throughout the stem

  Leaf spines

  there are no spines on the leaf edges

  Leaf stalk

  • the leaves have leaf stalks
  • the leaves have no leaf stalks, but attach directly to the stem

  Leaf type

  leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets)

  Specific leaf type

  the leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  Massachusetts

  Specific habitat

  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields

• Scent

  Plant odor

  the plant does not have much of an odor

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Leaves on stem

  there is at least one full leaf above the base of the flowering stem

  Stem bloom

  there is no powdery or waxy film on the stem

  Stem internode hair type

  • the hairs on the stem are plain, without glands or branches, and not tangled
  • the stem has no hairs between the nodes

  Stem internode hairs

  • the stem has hairs between the nodes
  • the stem has no hairs between the nodes

Wetland status

Occurs only in non-wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: UPL)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae