Biology:Eriastrum diffusum

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Short description: Plant species in the phlox family

Eriastrum diffusum
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Polemoniaceae
Genus: Eriastrum
Species:
E. diffusum
Binomial name
Eriastrum diffusum
(A.Gray) H.Mason
Subspecies[1]
  • Eriastrum diffusum subsp. diffusum Eriastrum diffusum subsp. coachellae
  • Eriastrum diffusum subsp. utahense
Synonyms[1]
  • Hugelia diffusa
  • Welwitschia diffusa

Eriastrum diffusum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name miniature woollystar. It is native to the southwestern United States from California to Texas, where it grows in many types of open habitat. This is an annual herb producing a thin, usually woolly stem up to about 20 centimeters long, growing erect or spreading outward. The leaves are divided into 2 to 4 narrow, threadlike linear lobes. The inflorescence is a woolly cluster of narrow, leaflike bracts laced with webby fibers. The small flowers are funnel-shaped, with yellowish throats and white to pale blue corollas.

Taxonomy

In 1870 Asa Gray described a variety of Gilia filifolia he named diffusa. It was described as a species twice before Herbert Louis Mason moved it to the genus Eriastrum creating the accepted species name. Together with its genus it is classified in the Polemoniaceae family. It has three subspecies.[1]

  • Eriastrum diffusum subsp. coachellae – Native to California[2]
  • Eriastrum diffusum subsp. diffusum – Widespread in the southwestern US and northern Mexico[3]
  • Eriastrum diffusum subsp. utahense – Native to Utah[4]

Eriastrum diffusum has 9 synonyms of the species or one of its three subspecies.[1][2][3][4]

Table of Synonyms
Name Year Rank Synonym of: Notes
Eriastrum diffusum var. coachellae (S.J.De Groot) Tiehm 2023 variety subsp. coachellae ≡ hom.
Eriastrum diffusum subsp. jonesii H.Mason 1945 subspecies subsp. diffusum = het.
Eriastrum diffusum var. utahense (S.J.De Groot) Tiehm 2023 variety subsp. utahense ≡ hom.
Gilia filifolia var. diffusa A.Gray 1870 variety E. diffusum ≡ hom.
Hugelia diffusa (A.Gray) Jeps. 1943 species E. diffusum ≡ hom.
Hugelia virgata var. pygmaea Jeps. 1925 variety subsp. diffusum = het.
Navarretia filifolia var. diffusa (A.Gray) Brand 1907 variety E. diffusum ≡ hom.
Welwitschia diffusa (A.Gray) Rydb. 1917 species E. diffusum ≡ hom.
Welwitschia filifolia var. diffusa (A.Gray) Tidestr. 1935 variety E. diffusum ≡ hom.
Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym; = heterotypic synonym

References

Wikidata ☰ Q5385934 entry