Atrichoseris

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Atrichoseris platyphylla 8.jpg

|image_caption = Atrichoseris platyphylla
at Lake Mead

|display_parents = 4

|genus = Atrichoseris

|parent_authority = A.Gray

|species = platyphylla

|authority = A. Gray

|synonyms_ref =

|synonyms =

• Anathrix A.Gray
• Malacothrix unranked Anathrix A. Gray
• Malacothrix platyphylla A.Gray

}}

Atrichoseris is a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae.[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/38116778#page/420/mode/1up Gray, Asa. 1884. Synoptical Flora of North America 1(2): 410][http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40022491 Tropicos, Atrichoseris A. Gray ] It contains only one known species, Atrichoseris platyphylla, known by the common names tobacco weed, parachute plant, and gravel ghost.[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=103108 Flora of North America, Atrichoseris A. Gray in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 1(2): 410. 1884. ]

A. platyphylla is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States (southern California, Arizona, Nevada and the southwestern corner of Utah) and northwestern Mexico (Sonora, Baja California).{{Cite book |last=Spellenberg |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/nationalaudubons00spel/page/357/ |title=National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region |publisher=Knopf |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-375-40233-3 |edition=rev |pages=357 |orig-date=1979}}

The plant produces a low basal rosette of rounded leaves patterned with gray-green and purple patches at ground level. It sends up a weedy-looking thin branching stem up to {{Convert|70|cm|abbr=off}} tall, topped with a number of attractive, fragrant white or pink-tinged flowers, about {{Convert|2.5-5|cm|abbr=on|frac=4}} wide, the layered ray florets rectangular and toothed.[http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?609,779,780 Jepson Manual Treatment][http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Atrichoseris+platyphylla Photo gallery] The flowers bloom between February and May. The hairless fruit has the shape of a five-sided club.

The genus name, Atrichoseris, means 'chicory plant without hairs', referring to the fruit, and the specific epithet, platyphylla, means 'flat-leaved'.

File:Gravel Ghost, Atrichoseris platyphylla.jpg, March 2005.]]