Prickly Spineflower

Description

Chorizanthe rectispina-is a species of flowering plant in the-buckwheat family-known by the common names-prickly spineflower-and-straight-awned spineflower. It is-endemic-to-California, where it is known from about twenty occurrences from-Monterey-to-Santa Barbara Counties.-It grows in dry habitat types such as-chaparral-and woodland in the hills of the-Central Coast Ranges. It is a low, spreading plant with stems up to about 25 centimeters long, grayish to greenish in color and hairy in texture. The-inflorescence-is a cluster of flowers, each flower surrounded by six hairy-bracts-which are grayish to pink in color and tipped with awns. One bract is longer than the others and has a straight awn, and the other smaller bracts may have hooked awns. The tiny flower at the center of the bract array is a few millimeters wide and white and yellow in color