Chorizanthe cuspidata

Chorizanthe cuspidata is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family known by the common name San Francisco spineflower. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from the San Francisco Bay Area and to the immediate north and south. It grows in sandy coastal habitat.

Chorizanthe cuspidata
Chorizanthe cuspidata var. villosa in Point Reyes
Conservation status
Imperiled  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Polygonaceae
Genus:	Chorizanthe
Species:	C. cuspidata
Binomial name
Chorizanthe cuspidata S.Wats.

Description

The Chorizanthe cuspidata plant grows flat along the ground, its stems extending up to about half a meter in length. The leaves are located about the base of the stem and are generally oval in shape and up to 5 centimeters long. The herbage is hairy to woolly in texture and green to reddish in color.

The inflorescence is a dense cluster of cylindrical flowers, each bordered by white or pink bracts with hooked or straight spines at the tips. The flower itself is 2 or 3 millimeters long, white or pink, and hairy. The minute tepals are lobed, with the central lobe longest and coming to a point.

Varieties

There are two varieties of this species:

• Chorizanthe cuspidata var. cuspidata is quite rare due to its Bay Area habitat having been mostly consumed for development.
• Chorizanthe cuspidata var. villosa can be found in the protected habitat of Point Reyes National Seashore.^[2]