Smallray Goldfields

Because the rays are inconspicuous, plants of the self-pollinating Lasthenia microglossa are easy to overlook. Besides growing in habitats similar to those occupied by L. debilis, L. microglossa is found also beneath chaparral shrubs and extends into desert areas, where it grows near rocks that may provide favorable shade and moisture conditions.

Annuals, to 25 cm. Stems erect or sprawling, branched distally, villous, especially distally. Leaves linear or subulate, 15–80 × 1.5–2(–4) mm, margins ± entire, faces moderately hairy. Involucres cylindric to narrowly obconic, 6–8.5 mm. Phyllaries 4, elliptic to oblong, hairy. Receptacles subulate, papillate, glabrous. Ray florets 4; (corollas yellow) laminae lance-elliptic, (0–)0.5–1 mm. Disc corolla lobes 4(–5). Anther appendages subulate (without wartlike glands; style apices lanceolate, glabrous). Cypselae black, ± linear, to 5 mm, hairy; pappi 0, or of 1–4 brown or white, linear to ovate or lanceolate, aristate scales (sometimes variable within heads). 2n = 24.

Burrielia microglossa de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 5: 664. 1836; Baeria microglossa (de Candolle) Greene

Baeria microglossa (DC.) Greene, Fl. Fran. 438. 1897
Burrielia microglossa DC. Prodr. 5: 664. 1836. Laslhenia microglossa Greene, Man. Bay Reg. 205. 1894. Penlachaeta laxa Elmer, Bot. Gaz. 41: 318. 1906.
Annual, 0.5 to 2 dm. high, usually much branched, the stems weak and slender but erect,
sparsely pubescent with soft and somewhat appressed hairs; leaves linear, entire, rarely more
than 3 mm. wide, usually much narrower; peduncles 1-4 cm. long; involucre cylindric, 5-8 mm.
high, its 3 or 4 bracts oblong and acute; receptacle subulate; ray-flowers (pistillate) 1-3, their
ligules shorter than the styles or wanting; disk-flowers not more than 15 ; styletips short-ovate;
achenes slightly compressed, nearly linear but narrowed below, rough with scattered upwardly
pointing minute bristles; pappus of 2-4 very narrow but flattened squamellae attenuate into
subulate awns, sometimes wanting in the ray-flowers.
Type locality: California.
Distribution: Shaded or grassy places in western and middle California, extending to the borders of the Mojave and the Colorado deserts.

Lasthenia microglossa is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name smallray goldfields. It is endemic to California, where it grows in shady areas in a number of habitats.