Family: Asteraceae
Crepis
Derivation: Greek krepis, literally a foundation or boot, used by Theophrastus as a name for Picris echioides.
Synonymy: Hostia Moench, Suppl. Meth. 221 (1802); Melitella Sommier, Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. n.s. 14:497 (1907).
Common name: Hawksbeards.
Description:
Annual and biennial herbs with a tap root; basal leaves sinuate-pinnatifid, forming a rosette; cauline leaves alternate, sessile, more or less auriculate, flat.
Capitula terminal, pedunculate in loose particles or sessile at ground level, homogamous; involucre cylindrical, 3-seriate; bracts herbaceous with scarious margins, lanceolate to linear, the 2 inner series subequal, the outer series shorter; receptacle flat, naked or hairy, pitted; florets all bisexual, fertile, ligulate; ligules linear to oblong, yellow; corolla tube cylindrical, often pubescent; anthers sagittate to tailed at the base, with obtuse to shortly ovate apical appendages; style branches narrowly linear, terete, truncate or tapered, densely papillose.
Achenes terete, ribbed, sometimes all achenes or only the inner ones with filiform beaks; pappus 1-3-seriate, of fine barbellate bristles, free, persistent or caducous.
Distribution:
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About 200 species in the Northern Hemisphere and Africa; about 6 naturalised in Australia. (E. B. Babcock (1947) Univ. Calif Publ. Bot. 22).
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Biology:
No text
Key to Species:
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1. Capitula sessile among the leaf bases; aerial stems absent |
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C. pusilla 4. |
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1. Capitula pedunculate in paniculate inflorescences on aerial stems |
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3. Involucres green, pubescent, with thin bracts becoming reflexed in fruit; achenes 1.5-2.5 mm long |
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C. capillaris 1. |
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3. Involucres grey-tomentose, becoming hardened and urceolate in fruit; achenes 3-4 mm long |
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C. dioscoridis 2. |
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2. Achenes all with filiform beaks or the marginal ones hardly beaked |
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4. Capitula in groups of 2 or 3 terminating divaricate branches; pappus of mature achenes completely exserted from the involucre |
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C. foetida 3. |
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4. Capitula numerous in a leafless corymbose panicle; pappus of mature achenes partly exserted |
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C. vesicaria 5. |
Author:
Not yet available
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