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• Asteraceae
• Asteraceae Group 5
• Layia
• Layia platyglossa

Layia platyglossa — coastal tidytips

Facts

Coastal tidytips is native to California and Baja Mexico. Its seeds must have germinated in a dump in Massachusetts. The seeds of this plant were an important staple food for the Cahuilla, Costanoan and Mendocino tribes of California.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats)

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Bract color

  the bracts are not colored or tinged with pink, red or purple

  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 hairs having glands (a swelling at the tip of the hair)

  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 lanceolate (widest above the base, then taper narrowly towards the tip)
  • the main bracts are oblanceolate (widest near the tip, but otherwise narrow and tapering)

  Bract spines

  the bracts have no spines

  Bract texture

  the bracts have a similar texture to a leaf

  Bract tip color

  the tips are the same color as the center of the bract

  Bract tip orientation

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

  Bract tip shape

  • the tips of the bracts acute (have a sharp point)
  • the tips of the bracts are obtuse (have a blunt point)

  Bracts

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

  Disk flower color

  yellow

  Disk flower lobe number

  5

  Disk flower number

  • 11-20
  • 21-50
  • 6-10
  • 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 number

  each flowering stem has only one to three flower heads on it

  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 papery scales on it

  Flower head position

  each of the flower heads is separate on its own peduncle (stalk), not clustered in groups

  Flower head profile

  • the disk is flat or nearly flat across the top
  • the disk is rounded 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

  4–18 mm

  Inflorescence branching (Solidago)

  NA

  Inflorescence shape

  • NA
  • the inflorescence is flat-topped in profile

  Number of bracts at flower head base

  5–18

  Ovary beak

  there is no beak on the ovary

  Ovary cross-section

  the ovary is compressed (flattened)

  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 another shape

  Peduncle hair type

  the hairs on the peduncles have glands at their tips

  Peduncle hairs

  the peduncles are hairy

  Ray flower color

  • white
  • yellow

  Ray flower reproductive parts

  the ray flowers have carpels or stamens, but not both

  Ray flowers

  • 1-5
  • 11-15
  • 6-10

  Ray length

  3–21 mm

  Reproductive system

  all the flowers on the plant contain both carpels and stamens

  Style branch number

  the style has two branches

  Swelling at base of flower head

  the peduncles are not swollen, or only slightly

  Width of flower head base

  4–15 mm

• Fruits or seeds

  Number of pappus parts

  • 0
  • 11 or more

  Ovary length in developed fruit

  2–5 mm

  Seed hair tuft color

  • the pappus hairs are tan to dark brown
  • the pappus hairs are white or off-white

  Seed hair tuft details

  • NA
  • the pappus hairs have smaller hairs along their sides

  Seed hair tuft length

  2–5 mm

  Seed hairs uniform

  all the pappus hairs are approximately the same length

  Seed tuft scale number

  0–32

  Seed tuft type

  • the pappus is made of flat scales that are not split or frayed at the tips
  • the pappus is made of very fine hairs or bristles

  Top of disk flower ovary

  NA

  Tuft or plume on fruit

  • at least a part of the plume is made up of fine bristles
  • there is no plume, or the plume is made up of scales, awns, a crown, or a rim

• Glands or sap

  Bract resin

  • the bracts have no resin or resin glands
  • the bracts have resin or resin glands

  Leaf blade glands

  the leaf blades have glandular (translucent) dots or scales

• 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

• 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

  • alternate: there is one leaf per node along the stem
  • opposite: there are two leaves per node along the stem

  Leaf blade base

  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 edges

  • the edge of the leaf blade has lobes, or it has both teeth and lobes
  • the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade hairs

  • NA
  • the leaf blade has hairs with glands at their tips

  Leaf blade length

  4–100 mm

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is lanceolate (lance-shaped; widest below the middle and tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)
  • the leaf blade is oblanceolate (lance-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)

  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 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 leaf has a row of two or more lobes on each side of the central axis
  • 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

• 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 internode hair direction

  the hairs point mostly upwards to outwards

  Stem internode hair type

  at least some of the hairs on the stem have glands

  Stem internode hairs

  the stem has hairs between the nodes

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae