Lamarckia aurea (L.) Moench
Poaceae (Grass Family)EuropeGolden-Top |
April Photo
Plant Characteristics:
Low annual, cespitose, glabrous; stems generally erect, 7-40 cm.; cauline
lvs. +/- evenly distributed, blade 2.5-9 cm., 2.5-7 mm. wide, flat; ligule 3-7
mm., membranous, glabrous, tip +/- irregularly cu; infl. panicle-like, terminal,
2-8 cm., dense, golden yellow to purplish; axis short-white-hairy in branch
axils; spikelets short-stalked, with 1 fertile terminal floret on a long
rachilla-joint, and 1-3 sterile spikelets in spreading to drooping clusters,
each cluster generally falling as 1 unit; fertile spikelet with glumes 2.5-4
mm., +/- equal, generally equal the spikelet in length; florets 2; lower floret
fertile, 2.5-3 mm., lemma awned from near tip, awn 6-7 mm., straight; upper
floret sterile, +/- 0.5 mm., awn 4-5 mm.; sterile spikelet 6-9 mm., longer than
glumes, linear, glumes longer than lower floret; florets 5-8; lemmas +/-
overlapping, 1.5-2 mm., obtuse, tip +/- fringed, awn 0.
Habitat:
Common weed in waste places at low altitudes, cismontane including
islands. Feb.-May.
Name:
Named for Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, 1744-1829.
French anatomist and student of classification.
Proposed the first general theory on evolution.
(Jaeger 311). Latin, aurum,
gold, the color of gold. (Jaeger
31).
General:
Common on the Castaway's Bluffs, with a few plants at 23rd Street.
Photographed on the Castaway's Bluffs.
(my comments).
This plant, sometimes cultivated for ornament, is an introduction from
the Mediterranean region, and now occurs in cultivated and waste ground from
Texas to California. It is less common in the northern part of the state than in
the southern part, where it was in great abundance as early as 1881.
(Robbins 85). Lamarckia has been known to
cause hay fever and asthma. (Fuller
382). One
species in the genus. (Munz, Flora
So. Calif. 978).
Text Ref:
Hickman, Ed. 1267; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 978; Robbins et al. 85.
Photo Ref:
March-April 83 # 5,16; April 6 83 # 13; Mar 2 85 # 2.
Identity: by John Johnson.
First Found: April 1983.
Computer Ref: Plant Data 325.
Have plant specimen.
Last edit 11/26/04.
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