Chorizanthe staticoides
Encyclopedia
Chorizanthe staticoides is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family
Polygonaceae
Polygonaceae is a family of flowering plants known informally as the "knotweed family" or "smartweed family"— "buckwheat family" in the United States. The name is based on the genus Polygonum and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 in his book, Genera Plantarum. The name refers...

 known by the common name Turkish rugging. It is endemic to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, where it is a common member of the flora in the chaparral
Chaparral
Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...

 and scrub habitats in a number of regions.

This is a plant which is quite variable in morphology, producing small patches on the ground or growing erect to heights over half a meter. The leaves measure from just a few millimeters to about 8 centimeters long. Most of them grow at the base of the fuzzy green or reddish stem. The top of the stem branches neatly into flat-topped 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...

s packed densely with tiny flowers. Each flower has a cylindrical base of six sharp-tipped bract
Bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...

s in shades of red to purple or green. Within this involucre is the pink to red flower which is a few millimeters wide and contains nine tiny stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...

s.

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