Plant Species of the Bright Angel Trail:
Grand Canyon rock-daisy, Perityle congesta
Grand Canyon rock-daisy, Perityle congesta
See Plant Guide to Bright Angel Trail for an introduction to this page, especially the Introduction To These Species Pages.
Characteristics
Identification status: high confidence.
Using the McDougall key:
1b. Corollas tubular 3a. Subshrub 4b. No ligules 13b. Pappus of awns 21b. Pappus of 1-2 awns 22b. Heads about 1/4 inch across ....Perityle congesta
My pictures don't show the pappus; I determined that from a flower in the field.
I had to key out this species, since the only Perityle I've seen previously was P. emoryi, which is an annual with very wide leaves and radiate heads. There is almost no resemblance between the plants at mile 0.09 and P. emoryi! This might be part of the reason this species used to be placed in a separate genus of Laphamia. The Kearney and Peebles distinction between the two genera was:
22a. Achenes not evidently ciliate; pappus of 1 or 2 awns ... Laphamia
22b. Achenes strongly ciliate on the margin;
pappus of a crown of scales and often 1 or 2 awns (leads to Perityle)
However, at mile 0.89, I ran across some young specimens that bore much more resemblance to P. emoryi.
This species richly deserves its common name of Grand Canyon rock-daisy, since it is quite abundant along the Bright Angel Trail, and grows almost exclusively in the Grand Canyon, known only from northern Arizona and possibly Nevada. USDA Plants says it also occurs in Nevada, but the Flora of North America only gives it in Arizona. Kearney and Peebles say Known only from northern Arizona; Coconino and northern Mohave counties, 2500 to 8000 feet.
From a SEINet search on 29 September 2007, there are a whopping 49 vouchers of this species from the Coconino County portion of the Grand Canyon, including one from Near head of Bright Angel Trail at 7100 feet elevation. Note that there may be additional vouchers at other herbaria not available through SEINet.
First occurrence on Bright Angel Trail: mile 0.09, elevation 6797 feet (2072 m).
Number of plants along Trail: This species is quite abundant along the trail; at least 50 plants were found in at least different 9 locations in September 2007.
Pictures
From 5 September 2007, mile 0.09:
From 14 September 2006, mile 0.09:
From 5 September 2007, mile 0.89. The plants at mile 0.89 have leaves much more similar to Perityle emoryi:
References
See Resources for Grand Canyon Flora for further information on most of these references. Entries in the second column are either the name used in that source or a page reference. The name is linked to online pages when available. If a given reference does not contain this taxon, the entry is either left blank or contains a hyphen.
| Family | Asteraceae |
|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Perityle congesta |
| 1987 Grand Canyon Flora Name | Perityle congesta |
| 1987 Grand Canyon Flora page | 34 |
| SEINet Image Page | Perityle congesta |
| USDA Plants | Perityle congesta |
| Flora of North America | Perityle congesta |
| Jepson Manual for California treatment | |
| Jepson Manual illustration page | |
| Kearney and Peebles Name | Laphamia congesta |
| Kearney and Peebles Page # | 916 |
| Vascular Plants of AZ name | |
| Vascular Plants of AZ volume: page | |
| Huisinga et al 2006 name | Perityle congesta |
| Huisinga et al 2006 page numbers | 212-213 |
| Epple Name | - |
| Epple description page # | - |
| Epple pix # | - |
| McDougall 1964 name | Laphamia congesta |
| McDougall 1964 page # | 243 |
| Brian 2000 Name | |
| Phillips 1979 name | - |
| Phillips 1979 page # | - |
| Stockert 1967 name | - |
| Stockert 1967 page # | - |