Psathyrotes
genus of plants
Psathyrotes is a genus of North American plants in the sneezeweed tribe within the sunflower family. It contains annual and perennial forbs and low subshrubs native to dry areas of southwestern North America. Common names include turtleback, brittlestem, and fanleaf.
The plants are low, densely branching, hairy, and scaly, with a turpentine-like odor. Leaves are alternate and hairy. The Latin name of the genus (from the Greek psathurotes) refers to the brittleness of the stems.
Species
Psathyrotes annua (Nutt.) Gray (annual psathyrotes, mealy rosettes, turtleback) - CA NV UT AZ ID
Synonyms: Bulbostylis annua Nutt.
Annual or perennial forb
Psathyrotes pilifera Gray (hairy-beast turtleback, hairybeast brittlestem) - NV UT AZ
Annual forb
Psathyrotes ramosissima (Torr.) Gray (velvet rosette, velvet turtleback, turtleback) - NV UT AZ CA, Baja California, Sonora
Synonyms: Tetradymia ramosissima Torr.
Annual or perennial forb or subshrub
formerly included
see Peucephyllum Psathyrotopsis Trichoptilium
Psathyrotes incisa A.Gray - Trichoptilium incisum (A.Gray) A.Gray
Psathyrotes purpusii Brandegee - Psathyrotopsis purpusii (Brandegee) Rydb.
Psathyrotes scaposa A.Gray - Psathyrotopsis scaposa (A.Gray) H.Rob.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Psathyrotes” is genus of plants. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Psathyrotes, genus and plants, not as a finished interpretation.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 28, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q3003851. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Psathyrotes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.