Hedypnois (Crete Weed)

Recently I've noticed observations in San Diego County of Cretanweed (Hedypnois rhagadioloides). The plants all looked a lot like Crete Weed (Hedypnois cretica) which I have observed many times. Currently there are 232 observations from San Diego of Hedypnois cretica and 45 observations of Hedypnois rhagadioloides. I checked Plants of the World Online and learned that Hedypnois rhagadioloides is an accepted species and that Hedypnois cretica is a synonym for Hedypnois rhagadioloides subsp. rhagadioloides. (This is the only accepted subspecies on POWO, but on iNat there are a few observations in Australia and Greece of a different subspecies: Hedypnois rhagadioloides subsp. tubaeformis. ) The Jepson eFlora lists Hedypnois rhagadioloides and it says Hedypnois cretica is a synonym for it (with no mention of subspecies) but they call it Crete Weed, not Cretanweed. I like the name Crete Weed better than Cretanweed--even though the spelling is different, the resemblance to "cretin" makes it sound like a dumb plant.

Posted on 25 de março de 2020, 10:24 PM by milliebasden