Ancistrocarphus filagineus
Encyclopedia
Ancistrocarphus filagineus is a species of flowering plant known by the common names woolly fishhooks and hooked groundstar. It is native to western North America, including parts of the western United States and Baja California
in Mexico. It grows in many types of habitat, including bare, rocky habitat with clay
or serpentine soil
s and recently burned
areas. It is a petite annual herb with gray, woolly-haired herbage growing just a few centimeters tall. The linear, lance-shaped, or oval leaves are up to 3 centimeters long and are alternately arranged on the short stems. The inflorescence
is a cluster of a few small star-shaped flower heads
a few millimeters wide.
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
in Mexico. It grows in many types of habitat, including bare, rocky habitat with clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
or serpentine soil
Serpentine soil
A serpentine soil is derived from ultramafic rocks, in particular serpentinite, a rock formed by the hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle....
s and recently burned
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
areas. It is a petite annual herb with gray, woolly-haired herbage growing just a few centimeters tall. The linear, lance-shaped, or oval leaves are up to 3 centimeters long and are alternately arranged on the short stems. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is a cluster of a few small star-shaped flower heads
Head (botany)
The capitulum is considered the most derived form of inflorescence. Flower heads found outside Asteraceae show lesser degrees of specialization....
a few millimeters wide.