314. Dicranocarpus A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 5: 322. 1854.
Pitchfork [Greek di-, two, kranos, skull or helmet, and karpos, fruit; probably alluding to the "two-horned" cypselae]
Justin W. Allison
Annuals, 10–70 cm (± succulent; taprooted). Stems 1, erect, branched dichotomously, divaricate (drying brittle). Leaves mostly cauline; opposite; obscurely petiolate; blades 1(–2)-pedately or -pinnately lobed (lobes filiform), ultimate margins entire, faces glabrous. Heads radiate, borne singly or (2–4) in cymiform arrays. Calyculi of (0–)1–3+ erect, linear to subulate, herbaceous bractlets. Involucres cylindric to obconic, 1.5–3 mm diam. (larger in fruit). Phyllaries persistent, 3–6 in 1(–2) series, lance-ovate to lanceolate, scarious, brown-nerved. Receptacles slightly convex, paleate; paleae linear to subulate, scarious. Ray florets 3–6, pistillate, fertile; corollas yellow. Disc florets 3–4+, functionally staminate; corollas yellow, tubes shorter than throats, lobes 5, triangular. Cypselae obcompressed, oblong to linear, ± ribbed, smooth or tuberculate, glabrous or densely papillate; pappi persistent, of 2 spreading to recurved, smooth or proximally papillate awns. x = 10.
Species 1: sw United States, n Mexico.
