Crepis modocensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Modoc hawksbeard.

Crepis modocensis
Crepis modocensis in Wenas Wildlife Area

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Crepis
Species:
C. modocensis
Binomial name
Crepis modocensis
Synonyms[1]
  • Crepis scopulorum Coville
  • Psilochenia modocensis (Greene) W.A.Weber
  • Crepis glareosa Piper, syn of subsp. glareosa
  • Crepis rostrata Coville, syn of subsp. rostrata
  • Crepis subacaulis (Kellogg) Coville, syn of subsp. rostrata

It is native to western North America (British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado), where it grows in several types of mountain and plateau habitat, including sagebrush.[2][3] It typically prefers rocky soil.[4]

The species name is from the Modoc Plateau, in the northeast California range.

Description

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The flower heads are large with 10 to 60 ray florets.

Crepis modocensis is a perennial herb growing an erect stem up to 45 centimeters (18 inches) tall and often lined with long bristles. The woolly and sometimes bristly leaves are dark-veined and edged with blunt and sharp lobes. The longest leaves at the base of the plant reach about 25 centimeters (10 inches) long.

The inflorescence bears one to ten flower heads about 5 cm (2 in) in diameter[4] with rough or bristly phyllaries and up to 60 yellow ray florets but no disc florets.

The fruit is an achene around a centimeter long which is black, sometimes green or red tinted, and sports a tufty white pappus.[5]

Subspecies[1][5]

C. modocensis may have hybridized with Crepis atribarba to produce Crepis barbigera, the head size of which is intermediate between its prospective parent species.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b The Plant List, Crepis modocensis Greene
  2. ^ Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map
  3. ^ Calflora taxon report, University of California, Crepis modocensis E. Greene, Modoc hawksbeard
  4. ^ a b c Taylor, Ronald J. (1994) [1992]. Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary (rev. ed.). Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Pub. Co. p. 162. ISBN 0-87842-280-3. OCLC 25708726.
  5. ^ a b Flora of North America, Crepis modocensis
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