Dicoria canescens is a North American flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by several common names including desert twinbugs and bugseed.page 118 This is a desert plant of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, found in Sonora, Baja California, southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, southwestern Colorado, and northwestern New Mexico.Calflora taxon report, University of California, Dicoria canescens A. Gray, desert twinbugsBiota of North America Program 2014 county distribution mapShreve, F. & I. L. Wiggins. 1964. Vegetation and Flora of the Sonoran Desert 2 vols. Stanford University Press, Stanford. Dicoria canescens forms thickets of many individuals in the desert sand. The distinctive lower leaves are long, pointed, sharply toothed, and covered in a coat of thin white or gray hairs. The upper leaves are smaller and more rounded. One plant can produce several whitish flower heads containing disc florets but no ray florets. Sometimes the heads form closely associated pairs, a characteristic which is the origin of the common name "twinbugs".Flora of North America, Dicoria canescens A. Gray in W. H. EmoryGray, Asa 1859. in Emory, William Hemsley, Report on the United States and Mexican boundary survey made under the direction of the secretary of the Interior 2(1): page 87 description and commentary in EnglishGray, Asa 1859. in Emory, William Hemsley, Report on the United States and Mexican boundary survey made under the direction of the secretary of the Interior 2(1): plate 30 full-page line drawing of Dicoria canescensSEINEt, Southwest Biodiversity, Arizona Chapter, Dicoria canescens A. Gray, desert twinbugs photos, description in English, distribution map
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Compounds documented for Dicoria canescens across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Dicoria canescens has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens4
Marker genes5
GenBank sequences4
eDNA detections2
Countries1
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK1★rbcL1★rbcLa★ITS2★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualDicoria canescens carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
2n 362×CCDB · eflora · CCDB · book-fedorov
CCDB · eflora
CCDB · book-fedorov — Payne et al. 1964
n 181×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl
CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Pinkava, D. J. & D. J. Keil. 1977. Chromosome counts of Compositae from the United States and Mexico. Amer. J. Bot. 64: 680–686.
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type1 320 records
Wild obs. + sensor882
Museum / vouchered438
Origin
Native77
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO2 116 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy95% within 1 km
≤100 m 575≤1 km 46≤10 km 20>10 km 14
655 georeferenced · 227 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor882
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy44% within 1 km
≤100 m 24≤1 km 54≤10 km 92>10 km 9
179 georeferenced · 259 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence438
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions29 of 44 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Claremont, US
88
San Diego, US
56
Riverside, US
50
ASUlocation not on record
49
Phoenix, US
27
Davis, US
15
Santa Barbara, US
14
CASlocation not on record
14
Flagstaff, US
12
EL PASO, US
10
San Luis Obispo, US
8
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
7
Austin, US
5
Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record
4
US
4
Arizona Western Collegelocation not on record
4
Arcata, US
4
Hermosillo, MX
3
Northridge, US
3
Baltimore, US
3
Bronx, US
2
Albuquerque, US
2
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
2
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
2
DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record
2
Los Angeles, US
2
Provo, US
2
Orem, US
2
BRNUlocation not on record
1
Logan, US
1
Mexico City, MX
1
Henderson, US
1
Wuzhou, CN
1
Mexico City, MX
1
San Diego Natural History Museum, Herbariumlocation not on record
1
San Jose, US
1
Frankfurt am Main
1
Arizona State University Biocollectionslocation not on record
1
DOI/NPS, Greenbelt Parklocation not on record
1
INFlocation not on record
1
Bangkok, TH
1
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
1
Austin, US
1
Jena Microbial Resource Collectionlocation not on record
1
44 institutions · 412 of 438 vouchered records shown · 26 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA2 detections
Where the DNA of Dicoria canescens was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found2
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 2 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median16.0 °C 16.0–16.0
Seasonal swing summer↔winter17.5 °C
Max temp (day)21.5 °C
Min temp (night)10.8 °C
Precipitation21.9 mm/mo
Air humidity47.1 %
Moisture balance-54.0 mm/mo
Vapour deficit965 Pa
Wind speed2.10 m/s
Cloud cover29.3 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.