Appearance
''Madia gracilis'' is variable in appearance. In general, it is an aromatic annual herb growing up to 1 metre in height. Its stem is branching, and hairy and glandular in texture. The leaves are up to 10 centimeters long and covered in soft hairs and stalked resin glands.The inflorescence is an array of clusters of flower heads. Each head is lined with phyllaries that are coated densely with stalked knobby resin glands. It bears yellow, lobe-tipped ray florets a few millimeters long and several black-anthered disc florets.
The fruit is a flat, hairless achene with no pappus.
Distribution
The annual herb is native to western North America: from British Columbia, through California to Baja California; and east to Utah and Montana. It grows in many habitat types except for arid desert areas, including oak woodlands and mixed evergreen forests.Uses
The seeds were used to make pinole by the indigenous Mendocino, Miwok, and Pomo peoples of California.References:
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