Photo 22438650, (c) Aaron Schusteff, all rights reserved, uploaded by Aaron Schusteff

Attribution © Aaron Schusteff
all rights reserved
Uploaded by arbonius arbonius
Source iNaturalist
Associated observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Star Gilia (Gilia stellata)

Observer

arbonius

Date

March 29, 2017 11:30 AM PDT

Description

Goes to genus Gilia rather than Saltugilia in the Jepson eFlora Polemoniaceae key from "inflorescence glands long-stalked, diam < stalk (hair)". [Note: Click the photos twice to view large images where infl. glands can be discerned.]

In the Jepson eFlora Gilia key the lack of an in-focus view of the leaf hairs here prompted me to go "both ways" at couplet 10, yielding candidates G. stellata (immediately) or G. scopularum (after a number of ensuing key breaks). The latter is described as having "corolla tube purple, throat < tube, yellow" and the former "corolla 6--10 mm, funnel-shaped, tube included or +/- exserted, throat yellow with purple spots, lobes pink or white". So G. stellata seemed better here.

I also checked the Gilia key in Munz...where from (among other characters): pollen blue; corolla funnelform; no arachnoid hairs; infl. open; plants scapose; and fruit capsules ovoid...one arrives at a terminal couplet between (surprise!) the same two species: stellata and scopularum. The relevant break there (since, again, leaf hairs are not visible in my photos) was: "corolla tube included in the calyx" for stellata vs. corolla tube well-exserted for scopularum. This break again pointed to G. stellata.

Cross-referencing with Tom Chester's Gilia of San Diego County web page reinforced the putative ID of G. stellata.

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