Plant Name
Scientific Name: Guilleminea densa
Common Name: Small Matweed
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Upland. This low-growing plant is found in sunny, open, disturbed areas in grasslands, chaparral, and oak, pinyon, and juniper woodlands.
Flower Color: Yellowish cream to off-white or translucent
Flowering Season: Summer, Early fall
Height: Up to 2 inches (5 cm) tall and 16 inches (40 cm) wide
Description: The tiny flowers are in dense, mounding, poorly defined aggregate clusters (glomerules) mixed in with small leaves. The leaves are shiny, green, fleshy, hairless or sparsely hairy above, hairy below, oblong-lanceolate to egg-shaped, and in pairs of unequal sizes. The numerous stems are prostrate, hairy, and greenish to reddish in color. The plants form dense, spreading mats on the ground.
The similar Washerwoman (Alternanthera caracasana) has flowers in more clearly defined, spiky flower heads.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Caryophyllidae
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Amaranthaceae – Amaranth family
Genus: Guilleminea Kunth – matweed
Species: Guilleminea densa (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Schult.) Moq. – small matweed
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