Lappula squarrosa (Retz.) Dumort.
bristly stickseed (common stickseed; European stickseed)
Boraginaceae (Borage family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
bristly stickseed (common stickseed; European stickseed)
Boraginaceae (Borage family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Photograph
© Larry Halverson (Photo ID #71249)
Species Information
General:
Annual herb from a taproot, short, straight, appressed-hairy (and sometimes curly- or spreading-hairy) throughout; stems usually branched, 10-80 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves oblanceolate, to 10 cm long, often deciduous; stem leaves linear to narrowly oblong or oblanceolate, reduced upwards to the leafy, lanceolate bracts of the inflorescence, unstalked, entire, alternate.
Flowers:
Inflorescence of narrow, elongating clusters with bracts throughout; flower stalks ascending to erect when in fruit; petals blue (sometimes white), fused at base into a small tube that flares (2-4 mm wide) at top to 5 lobes, with 5 yellow bulges at throat; fruiting calyces 2.5-3 mm long, the lobes spreading
Fruits:
Nutlets 4, clustered together, egg-shaped, 3-4 mm long, with 2(-3) marginal rows of slender, barb-tipped prickles distinct to the base, those of the outer row usually shorter than those of the inner.
Illustration
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Lappula squarrosa
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from
original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range.
(Updated August, 2013)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
829 | 304 | 2113 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
22 | 0 | 75 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
183 | 60 | 315 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
2 | 1 | 4 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
B | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
82 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
BG | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
BG(35), BWBS(2), ESSF(1), ICH(1), IDF(25), MS(2), PP(7) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Dry to mesic grasslands, shrublands, forest openings and disturbed areas in the steppe and montane zones; common in S BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, less frequent northward; introduced from Eurasia.Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Lappula echinata
Lappula erecta A. Nels.
Lappula fremontii (Torr.) Greene
Lappula lappula (L.) Karst.
Lappula myosotis
Lappula squarrosa var. erecta (A. Nels.) Dorn