Hawaiian Native Plant Genera - Asteraceae
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*Argyroxiphium, Dubautia,
and Wilkesia are apparently derived from a single colonization by
an allopolyploid intergeneric hybrid of North American affinity. |
Wilkesia is a Hawaiian endemic genus of two perennial species occurring on
Kauai. Plants mostly sparingly branched or
unbranched, forming one or more rosettes elevated on woody stems, in flower occasionally
up to about 5 m in height; leaves liguloid, in whorls of 7-15, basally coalesced
and sheathing the stem for 1-6.5 cm. Heads discoid; phyllaries 0;
receptacular chaff scales forming a ring encircling
the disk florets, the margins fused into a cup-like false involucre; disk
florets mostly 30-225, perfect, the corollas cream-colored, proximally tubular,
distally 5-lobed, the lobes minutely setulose; anthers yellow; disk cypselae
mostly straight, sparsely to moderately ascending-sericeous, 4.5-7 mm long, the pappus
uniseriate, comprising mostly 6-11 rigid, very shortly fimbriate-margined,
lanceolate scales 1-3.5 mm long. The chromosome number is n =
14.
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of Species
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