Hecastocleis

Taxobox
color = lightgreen
name = "Hecastocleis"


image_width = 200px
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Asterales
familia = Asteraceae
subfamilia = Hecastocleidoideae
genus = "Hecastocleis"
species = "H. shockleyi"
binomial = "Hecastocleis shockleyi"
binomial_authority = Gray

"Hecastocleis" is a monotypic genus of plants in the daisy family containing the single species "Hecastocleis shockleyi", which is known by the common name prickleleaf. This plant is native to the desert mountains and plains of eastern California and western Nevada, where it grows on arid, rocky slopes and flats. This is a low, brambly shrub producing a tangle of stiff, branching stems reaching heights between 40 and 70 centimeters. The stems have sparse glandular hairs and are lined with small pointed green leaves with a row of widely-spaced spines along each edge. As the leaf dries and its flesh falls away, the spines remain as hard prickles. At the end of stem branches are solitary flower heads, each enclosed between flat, oval-shaped, sharply toothed, leaflike, pale yellow bracts. Between the bracts are the flower parts, which are pinkish when new and open into a greenish-yellow corolla. The fruit is a cylindrical achene.

Classification

"Hecastocleis shockleyi" is the only species in the subfamily Hecastocleidoideae of the aster family (Asteraceae). Botanists at least as early as Asa Gray (in 1882) remarked on its distinctiveness; it appears to have no close relatives within the aster family. [cite journal
last = Panero
first = JL
coauthors = VA Funk
title = Toward a phylogenetic subfamilial classification for the Compositae (Asteraceae)
journal = Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington
volume = 115
issue = 4
pages = 909–922
publisher = Biological Society of Washington
date = 2002-12-30
url = http://www.mnh.si.edu/biodiversity/bdg/Panero&Funk2002.pdf
accessdate = 2008-06-12] [cite web|last = Stevens|first = P|title = Angiosperm Phylogeny Website|publisher = Missouri Botanical Garden|date = 2001 onwards|url = http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/APweb/welcome.html|accessdate = 2007-08-05]

References

External links

* [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?609,1290,1291 Jepson Manual Treatment]
* [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HESH USDA Plants Profile]
* [http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Hecastocleis+shockleyi Photo gallery]