FRIENDS OF EDGEWOOD NATURAL PRESERVE
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FRIENDS OF EDGEWOOD NATURAL PRESERVE
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A CLOSER LOOK AT LINANTHUS By Bob Young This is the last (the twentieth) of a series of articles describing the flowers pictured in our wildflower brochure. —ed.
In the brochure “Common Native Wildflowers of Edgewood,” published jointly by the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and Friends of Edgewood Natural Preserve, the first flower shown is named Bicolored Linanthus. After the brochure was printed, it was determined that the Bicolored Linanthus is not found at Edgewood and that the flower pictured was actually Small-flowered Linanthus (Linanthus parviflorus). In John Hunter Thomas’ book Flora of the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, he states, “Linanthus parviflorus is a variable species that can be and has been divided ad infinitum by various botanists.” In Toni Corelli’s book Flowering Plants of Edgewood Natural Preserve, she observes that while the color of the petals on the Small-flowered Linanthus on Edgewood are cream-colored, there are other populations of that same Linanthus on sites nearby Edgewood that have bright pink petals. The scientific name of the genus, Linanthus, comes from two Greek words: linon, meaning flax, and anthos, meaning flower, referring to the resemblance of some Linanthus flowers to the flax flower. Flax, however, is in the Flax family of plants, whereas Linanthus is in the Phlox family. The specific epithet parviflorus comes from two Latin words: parvi, meaning small, and florus, meaning flower; thus, Small-flowered. Small-flowered Linanthus is generally found under 4000 feet elevation from southwestern Oregon to northwestern Baja California, west of the dry regions of the Great Basin and Deserts. In Margaret Armstrong’s book Field Book of Western Wild Flowers, she describes Linanthus parviflorus as “A very pretty little plant, slightly hairy, with a slender stem, from three to ten inches tall, and clusters of small, dark green leaves. The flowers are about three-quarters of an inch across, with long, thread-like yellow tubes, sometimes an inch and a half long, and white, pink, or lilac petals with a white or orange eye.” The stem leaves of the Small-flowered Linanthus are opposite each other and are fan-like, thus making what appears to be whorls of small leaves clasping the stem. Worldwide, there are 41 species of Linanthus, 35 species in western North America, and 6 species in Chile. |
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