California

California macrophylla (Hooker & Arnott) Aldasoro, C. Navarro, P. Vargas, L. Sáez & Aedo

Annual; stem short

Leaves cordate, renate-serrate, often shallowly lobed, somewhat glaucous, or greener with rather deeper lobes, on rather long petioles, young leaves kidney shaped.

Inflorescence: Umbels of 2-5 flowers; bracts small, narrow, pointed; buds large, round; flowers 2-3cm across, white in northern populations and pink-purple in southern populations.

Fruit: Beak 4-5cm; carpel 7mm; awn with rather short dark brown bristles; foveole small, upward facing or nil, or hidden by carpel bristles, but very flat top to carpel.

Distribution: endemic to North America; California in unsprayed open field and grassy places below 1200m.

Northern populations have rounded to slightly lobes glaucous leaves: southern populations have more deeply lobed green leaves and pink flowers. The two populations overlap roughly through the transverse range .

Remarks: has been said to have evolved in California over the last 200 years, from E. malacoides? But several characters too different: bristles on awn, foveole, and beak size. It has recently been found the genus California separated from Erodium in the Early Miocene period.

Erodium

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Erodium

Classification

Species

Clade I, Subclade 1

Subgenus Erodium

- Section Erodium

- Section Oxyrynchia

- stephanianum group

Clade I, Subclade 2