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Dwarf Calico Flower

Downingia pusilla (G. Don ex A. DC.) Torr.

Comprehensive Description

provided by North American Flora
Downingia pusilla (G. Don) Torr. U. S. Expl. Exped 17:375. 1874.
Lobelia pusilla Poeppig; Cham. Linnaea 8: 217. 1833. (Nomen nudum.) Clinlonia pusilla G. Don, Gen. Hist. 3: 718. 1834.
Bolelia humilis Greene, Pittonia 2: 226. 1892. {BioleUi, herb. Greene!) Downingia humilis Greene, Leaflets 2; 45. 1910.
Plants 2-12 cm. high, entirely glabrous or the hypanthium minutely scabrous; stems relatively stout for their height, up to 1.5 mm. in diameter at base; leaves 0.5-1.0 mm. wide by 4-7 mm. long; inflorescence 2-5 cm. long, 1-7-flowered; flower bracts 1.0-1.5 mm. wide by 2-8 mm. long, 5-7 times as long as wide, elliptic or lanceolate, obtuse; corolla 2.5-4.0 mm. long, glabrous, white or the lower lip blue-tipped, with white center and yellowish patch near base; the tube 1.3-2.0 mm. long, narrowly funnel-shaped, the lateral sinuses cut about as deeply as the dorsal one, the two upper lobes deltoid-lanceolate, about 0.8 mm. wide by 1.21.5 mm. long (somewhat recurved?), the lower lip (more or less erect?), not sharply deflexed at base, the three deltoid lobes about 0.8 mm. wide by 1.2 mm. long; filament-tube 1.0-1.8 mm. long, glabrous, the filaments connate nearly their whole length; anther-tube 0.6-1.1 mm. long, the anthers white-apiculate, the two shorter ones with a few bristles and each with a blunt horn-like process at the tip; hypanthiura linear, in fruit becoming narrowly ellipsoid or subulate; mature capsule 1.0-1.2 mm. in diameter, 20-27 mm. long, the lateral walls firm and not easily ruptured, the valves appearing as impressed lines or as scarious divisions; calyx-lobes elliptic to linear, blunt-tipped, widest at or near the middle, erect and often appressed, 3-8 mm. long, the two lower ones usually plainly shorter than the others; seeds twisted, the cellular lines markedly oblique to the long axis of the seed; placentae axile, the ovary bilocular.
Type locality: Chile, Poeppig.
Distribution: Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valley, California; Chile, from about
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bibliographic citation
Rogers McVaugh. 1943. CAMPANULALES; CAMPANULACEAE; LOBELIOIDEAE. North American flora. vol 32A(1). New York Botanical Garden, New York, NY
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Downingia pusilla

provided by wikipedia EN

Downingia pusilla is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family known by the common name dwarf calicoflower. This wildflower is found in two separate parts of the world, Chile and the US state of California. It grows in wet areas such as ditches and vernal pools. This annual is different from the other downingias in that its flowers are much smaller, reaching 4 millimeters in width at maximum. It grows erect stems with few pointed leaves. The tiny tubular flower is white or blue, with yellow spots near the mouth of the tube. The fruit is a capsule two or three centimeters long.

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Downingia pusilla: Brief Summary

provided by wikipedia EN

Downingia pusilla is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family known by the common name dwarf calicoflower. This wildflower is found in two separate parts of the world, Chile and the US state of California. It grows in wet areas such as ditches and vernal pools. This annual is different from the other downingias in that its flowers are much smaller, reaching 4 millimeters in width at maximum. It grows erect stems with few pointed leaves. The tiny tubular flower is white or blue, with yellow spots near the mouth of the tube. The fruit is a capsule two or three centimeters long.

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