Leaf blades deeply 5(–7)-lobed, 5–30 cm wide. Flowers: sepals (pistillate) deltate, 0.4–0.6 mm, sometimes vestigial; petals (1–)3–10(–12) mm (pistillate) or 5–8(–10) mm (staminate), corolla white, shallowly cupulate to rotate; staminodia scalelike or absent in pistillate flowers. Capsules yellowish green at maturity, short-ellipsoid to broadly ovoid, usually rounded at both ends, sometimes sharply beaked, (5–)8–12 cm, surface densely echinate, spinules rigid, 5–30 mm. Seeds 4–20(–24), usually obovate to oblong-elliptic, sometimes subglobose, not flat at one end, slightly compressed, 15–20 mm. 2n = 32, 64.
Pinyon-juniper woodland, Joshua tree-pinyon transition zone, coastal sage, chaparral, oak woodland, rocky hillsides, riparian woods and thickets, stream bottoms, disturbed sites; at elevations up to 1,500 metres, occasionally to 2,100 metres.
Home
