Atrichoseris

Atrichoseris is a genus of plants in the dandelion family.[2][1] It contains only one known species, Atrichoseris platyphylla, known by the common names tobacco weed, parachute plant, and gravel ghost.[3]

Atrichoseris platyphylla
Atrichoseris platyphylla
at Lake Mead
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Asterids
Order:
Asterales
Family:
Asteraceae
Tribe:
Cichorieae
Subtribe:
Microseridinae
Genus:
Atrichoseris
Species:
A. platyphylla
Binomial name
Atrichoseris platyphylla
Synonyms[1]
  • Anathrix A.Gray
  • Malacothrix unranked Anathrix A. Gray
  • Malacothrix platyphylla A.Gray

Atrichoseris platyphylla is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States (southern California, Arizona, Nevada and the southwestern corner of Utah) and northwestern Mexico (Sonora, Baja California). It produces a low basal rosette of rounded leaves patterned with gray-green and purple patches at ground level. It sends up a weedy-looking thin branching stem topped with a number of attractive, fragrant white or pink-tinged flowers, the layered ray florets rectangular and toothed.[4][5]

Gravel ghosts in Death Valley National Park, March 2005.

References
  1. Tropicos, Atrichoseris A. Gray
  2. Gray, Asa. 1884. Synoptical Flora of North America 1(2): 410
  3. Flora of North America, Atrichoseris A. Gray in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1(2): 410. 1884.
  4. Jepson Manual Treatment
  5. Photo gallery


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