Delilia biflora
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| Delilia biflora | |
|---|---|
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| Delilia biflora, male and female flowers | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Tribe: | Heliantheae |
| Genus: | Delilia |
| Species: | D. biflora |
| Binomial name | |
| Delilia biflora | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Delilia biflora, in Spanish often known as pelusilla (little fluffy) and amorosa (loving), is a neotropical herbaceous annual remarkable for its much-reduced flowering heads. It belongs to the family Asteraceae.[1][2]
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Delilia biflora displays this very unusual combination of floral features:[2]
- Each head comprises one flat, petal-like ray floret without stamens, plus 1-4 fertile disc florets with cylindrical corollas and both stamens and female parts; both types produce fruits.
- The flat ray floret is about 0.4 mm long (~+1⁄64 inch) while the cylindrical corolla of each disc floret is 1.3 mm long (~+1⁄20 inch).
- Each fruit is united with its flowering head's 3 lowest, flatly compressed involucral bracts forming a thin, wafer-like unit about 5 mm across (~1⁄5 inch).
- Flowers are grouped in more or less spherical clusters both at stem tips and from the axils of leaves.
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Vegetative features are less unusual. They include:[2]
- The much-branched plants are annual herbs which can be up to 90cm tall (nearly 3 feet).
- Plants are nearly hairless to covered with stiff, sharp, straight hairs, or trichomes up to 0.5mm long (+~1⁄64 inch), and which lie against the plant's surface, pointing toward the stem tip.
- Leaves are simple, not deeply lobed.
- Leaves arise opposite one another on their stems.
Distribution
Delilia biflora occurs from Mexico southward through Central America into South America as far as northern Argentina and Brazil.[3] Also it's been introduced, in Cape Verde, Cuba and the Galápagos.[4]