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Psathyrotes ramosissima
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Psathyrotes
Species:	P. ramosissima
Binomial name
Psathyrotes ramosissima (Torr.) A.Gray
Synonyms
Tetradymia ramosissima

Psathyrotes ramosissima is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names velvet turtleback and turtleback. It is native to the southwestern United States.

Description

It is a low, neatly mounded plant producing spreading stems which are hairless to densely woolly in texture. It grows to 12.5 centimetres (5 in) tall and has a turpentine odour.

Leaves are borne on long petioles. The leaf blade is roundish, veined, and up to 2 cm (3⁄4 in) long. It has a toothed edge and a velvety surface coated in woolly fibres and shiny hairs; it is brownish to grayish or pale green in color.

The knobby inflorescence is 6 millimetres (1⁄4 in) wide and lined with woolly gray-green phyllaries with dull points that curve outward. It contains several hairy yellow disc florets. The fruit is an achene tipped with a large pappus of over 100 long, fine bristles.

• Turtleback plant, Death Valley

Distribution and habitat

It is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows in desert scrub.

References

1. NRCS. "Psathyrotes ramosissima". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 15 October 2015.
2. ^ Spellenberg, Richard (2001) . National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev. ed.). Knopf. p. 392. ISBN 978-0-375-40233-3.

External links

• [REDACTED] Media related to Psathyrotes ramosissima at Wikimedia Commons
• Jepson Manual Treatment
• USDA Plants Profile
• Photo gallery

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