Arctomecon californica
Arctomecon californica
Arctomecon californica is a species of the family of the Poppy family ( Papaveraceae ). In spring it produces bright yellow, fast wilting flowers. The plant only grows in chalky soil and is only a few populations in Nevada and Arizona known.
Description
Arctomecon californica is a short lived perennial herbaceous plant that reaches the stature heights of 20 to 30 cm. It forms a taproot.
The leaves are borne in a basal rosette. The blue- green leaves are 3-20 inches long, at the front end at the widest (up to 5 cm), front three to siebenlappig. The lobes ending in a sting. The leaves are densely covered with long, white hair.
The flowering season lasts from late March to late May. The upright inflorescence stem is up to 60 inches high, is hairy rough in the lower range, smooth top and carries only a few small deciduous leaf-like bracts. The umbrella-shaped inflorescence zymöse summarizes three to 20 flowers together. The flowers are hermaphroditic and radial symmetry. The two to three sepals are hairy 8 to 15 mm long and smooth or sparingly. The most six, rarely four to eight petals are bright yellow and with a length of 1.5 to 3.2 cm length only slightly longer than wide. There are numerous stamens present. The dust bags are 2-3 mm long. The stamens end at the same height as the scar or surpass them only slightly. Four or five carpels are fused into an ovary.
The fruits ripen from May to June. The oval capsule fruit reaches a length of 1.2 to 2.5 inches and a diameter of 0.7 to 1 centimeter, it contains about 100 seeds. The capsule opens with four to five longitudinal slots which extend at most a quarter of the fruit length. The shiny black seeds have a length of 2.5 to 3 mm and a diameter of about 1.2 mm; they have a distinct aril.
Dissemination
Arctomecon californica comes, usually in small populations found in the U.S. states of Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Here are about 100 populations in the Clark County in Nevada known and eight in Arizona. The population at Lake Mead in Arizona contains at least 250,000 individuals about a quarter of the total population. Four populations at the Grand Canyon differ morphologically and in their demands on the ground and could represent a separate taxon. In Utah, only a population that was established by sowing exists.
The climate in the area of distribution of Arctomecon californica is characterized by low, falling in the winter rainfall. The annual average fall about 100 millimeters of precipitation, but there are large variations from year to year and over years of drought. The soils on which Arctomecon californica grows, are characterized by a high gypsum content 36-69 %.
Swell
- Susan E. Meyer: Arctomecon. In: Flora of North America Editorial Committee ( eds.): Flora of North America North of Mexico. Vol 3, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford 1993 ( eFloras.org ).
- Orlando Mistretta, Rashmi Pant, Timothy S. Ross, J. Mark Porter, James D. Morefield: Current Knowledge and Conservation Status of Arctomecon californica Torrey & Frémont ( Papaveraceae ), the Las Vegas bearpoppy. In: Nevada Natural Heritage Program ( ed.): Rare Species Reports. ( http://heritage.nv.gov/reports/arccarep.htm ).