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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE SUNFLOWER FAMILY | |||||||||
| The sunflowers are found around the
globe in many different places, from temperate climates, like in Saskatchewan,
to mountains or in dry regions. The sunflower family is very large and contains
about 19,000 species! As you can imagine, the plants in this family can
look very different from one another. The sunflowers can be shrubs or herbs,
with many different leaf shapes and flower colours. One thing that is common
to all sunflowers is the type of flower arrangement. In this family, there
are many flowers grouped together into a head, like the one you see on a
daisy. It looks like one flower from a distance, but when you get close
you will see that it is actually made up of many, small flowers. The head
may have ray flowers on the outside and disc flowers on the inside, or only
one of the two kinds. Many of the seeds, like the dandelion, have a fluffy
structure attached to the seed. This is called the pappus and helps the
seeds to spread in the wind. You probably know a lot of plants in the sunflower family. Sunflowers can be plants you eat or plants that you may grow in the yard. For example, did you know that lettuce is from the sunflower family? So are the marigolds in the garden! Maybe you have heard of Echinacea? It is a plant in the sunflower family that is used to make medicine. Some of the sunflowers are also weeds, like the dandelion. |
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| WOOLLY HEADS | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Psilocarphus elatior | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Woolly heads is 1 to 10 cm tall with a thin, fibrous root. The stem is branched at the base and is covered in woolly hairs. The leaves are opposite and are silky-hairy with a smooth edge. The heads are small and only have disc flowers. There few heads at most on each stem. The flowers are either male or female, with the female flowers on the margin and the male flowers near the center of the head. The achene is cylinder-shaped and brown. It is surrounded by bladder-like bracts and has no pappus. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Woolly heads grows in dry slough bottoms. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is found in the southwestern part of the province in the Mixed Grassland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Woolly heads is rare because it is extremely rare in Saskatchewan and is only known from one location. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY WOOLLY HEADS | |||||||||
| * Are the stem and leaves woolly * Are the leaves opposite? * Are prickles and spines lacking? * Did you find it in a dry slough bottom in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found woolly heads! |
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