Stephanomeria is a genus of plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

s also known as wirelettuce, belonging to the family Asteraceae

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

. The ten perennial and six annual species are restricted to western North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

Stephanomeria species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including Schinia scarletina

Schinia scarletina

Schinia scarletina is a moth of the Noctuidae family. It is found in North America, including Arizona, Kansas, New Mexico, Utah, California, south to Baja California.The wingspan is about 20 mm.Larvae have been recorded on Stephanomeria....

, which feeds exclusively on the genus.

Species

This genus contains the following species:

• S. cichoriacea
  Stephanomeria cichoriacea
  Stephanomeria cichoriacea is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names chicoryleaf wirelettuce and Fort Tejon milk aster. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the coastal mountain ranges as far north as Monterey County, but especially in southern...
  
  - chicoryleaf wirelettuce - southern California
• S. diegensis
  Stephanomeria diegensis
  Stephanomeria diegensis is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name San Diego wirelettuce. It is native to the coastal hills and ranges of southern California and Baja California, where it grows in many types of open habitat. It evolved as a hybrid of Stephanomeria...
  
  - wreathplant - southern California; Hybrid origin: S. exigua х S. virgata
• S. elata
  Stephanomeria elata
  Stephanomeria elata is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names Santa Barbara wirelettuce and Nuttall's wirelettuce. It is native to Oregon and California, where it grows in coastal and inland mountain ranges, including the Sierra Nevada. It can be found in many...
  
  - Santa Barbara wirelettuce - California and Oregon
• S. exigua
  Stephanomeria exigua
  Stephanomeria exigua is a perennial or biennial plant native to the western United States. It is thought to be the parent species of Stephanomeria malheurensis , an endangered plant species found only in southern Oregon...
  
  - small wirelettuce - widespread throughout western US.
• S. fluminea - Teton wirelettuce - Endemic to northwestern Wyoming
  Wyoming
  Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
  
  
• S. guadalupensis - Endemic to Guadalupe Island
  Guadalupe Island
  Guadalupe Island, or Isla Guadalupe is a volcanic island located 241 kilometers off the west coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and some 400 kilometers southwest of the city of Ensenada in Baja California state, in the Pacific Ocean...
  
  
• S. lactucina
  Stephanomeria lactucina
  Stephanomeria lactucina is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names lettuce wirelettuce and woodland wirelettuce. It is native to Oregon and California, where it grows in coastal and inland mountain ranges, including the Sierra Nevada. It can be found in many types...
  
  - lettuce - California, Oregon and Nevada
• S. malheurensis
  Stephanomeria malheurensis
  The Malheur wirelettuce is a plant of the Asteraceae family.This plant species, designated as "endangered with critical habitat" by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1982, is native to only one small region in Harney County, Oregon, USA...
  
  - Malheur wirelettuce - Oregon
• S. minor - lesser wirelettuce - widespread, western US
• S. paniculata
  Stephanomeria paniculata
  Stephanomeria paniculata is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names tufted wirelettuce and stiff-branched wirelettuce. It is native to the northwestern United States, where it grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas...
  
  - tufted wirelettuce - western states
• S. parryi
  Stephanomeria parryi
  Stephanomeria parryi is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name Parry's wirelettuce. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in many types of habitat, including many desert areas. It is a perennial herb growing from a thick root and producing...
  
  - Parry's wirelettuce - Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah
• S. pauciflora
  Stephanomeria pauciflora
  Stephanomeria pauciflora is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names brownplume wirelettuce, few-flowered wirelettuce, and prairie skeletonplant. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in many types of habitat, including...
  
  - Brownplume wirelettuce - widespread, southwestern US
• S. runcinata - desert wirelettuce - Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota
• S. schottii - Schott's wirelettuce - Arizona
• S. thurberi - Thurber's wirelettuce - New Mexico, Arizona
• S. virgata
  Stephanomeria virgata
  Stephanomeria virgata, commonly called twiggy wreath plant, virgate wirelettuce, and rod wirelettuce, is a herbaceous annual plant of the sunflower family, Asteraceae. It can be found growing in Western North America, specifically California, but also in Oregon and Nevada and northern Mexico...
  
  - rod wirelettuce - California, Oregon, Nevada
• S. wrightii - Wright's wirelettuce - Texas, New Mexico

The following species have been re-assigned to different genera:

• S. blairii -> Munzothamnus blairii
  Munzothamnus
  Munzothamnus is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the daisy family containing the single species Munzothamnus blairii, which is known by the common name Blair's wirelettuce, or Blair's munzothamnus. It is endemic to San Clemente Island, one of the Channel Islands of California. It grows...
  
  
• S. spinosa -> Pleiacanthus spinosus
  Pleiacanthus
  Pleiacanthus is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the aster family containing the single species Pleiacanthus spinosus , which is known by the common name thorn skeletonweed, or thorny skeletonweed...