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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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| DESERT WIRELETTUCE | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Stephanomeria runcinata | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Desert wirelettuce grows 10 to 30 cm tall. The roots may be long, thin taproots or underground horizontal stems. The above ground stems are solitary or tufted. The branching pattern on the stem is alternate. The hairless stem contains a white milky sap. The lower leaves are much larger than the upper leaves and have downward pointing teeth. The upper leaves are scale-like near the top of the plant. The heads are solitary or several. Each head has several rows of five bracts, with the outer rows being very short. The ray flowers are pink and there are usually five. The fruits are wrinkly and have a white, feathery pappus. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Desert wirelettuce grows in dry, eroded soils. | |||||||||
| 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? | |||||||||
| Desert wirelettuce is very similar in appearance to other plants, like beaked annual skeletonweed. It is likely underreported and that is part of the reason why this plant is endangered in Saskatchewan. In addition, this plant is limited to one region of the province and does not appear to be common. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY DESERT WIRELETTUCE | |||||||||
| * Is the pappus white and feathery? * Do the margins of the leaves have downward pointing teeth? * Are the ray flowers pink? * Did you find it in southwestern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found desert wirelettuce! | |||||||||
