White-margin starry puncturebract

Oxytheca emarginata H. M. Hall, Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 1: 75, plate 14. 1902; Eriogonum emarginatum (H. M. Hall) S. Stokes

Plants 0.3-3 × 0.3-5 dm. Stems spreading to prostrate. Leaf blades spatulate to oblanceolate, 1.5-7.5 × 0.4-1.5 cm. Inflores-cences open, 0.2-3 dm; bracts mostly 5-10 × 1-3(-5) mm, awns 1-2 mm. Peduncles erect, 0.5-3 cm, glandular. Involucres white-margined, broadly funnelform and laterally compressed, 4-8 × 9-12 mm, glabrous; teeth 5, connate more than 3/ 4 their length, awns reddish, 1-1.5 mm. Flowers 3-6; perianth white to pink, (2-)3-4.5(-5) mm; tepals narrowly oblong, 3-5-lobed apically 1/ 1/ 2 their length, lobes laciniate; filaments 3-5 mm; anthers red, oval to oblong, 1-1.2 mm. Achenes golden brown, 1.8-2 mm.

Flowering Feb-Aug. Gravelly to rocky places, chaparral communities, montane coniferous woodlands; 1200-2500 m; of conservation concern; Calif.

Sidotheca emarginata grows in the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa mountains of Riverside County. The white-margined, papery involucre is a distinctive feature that might make the plant an attractive addition to an annual garden.