Pectocarya heterocarpa is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common names chuckwalla combseed and mixed-nut pectocarya. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in desert, mountain and plateau habitat, in scrub, woodland, and open areas. This is an annual herb producing a slender, rough-haired stem prostrate or upright to a maximum length of about 25 centimeters. The small, pointed linear leaves are alternately arranged, widely spaced along the stem. The inflorescence is a series of flowers, each on a curved pedicel. The flower has small green sepals and tiny white petals. The fruit is an array of four nutlets each lined with comblike prickles.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
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 Pectocarya heterocarpa has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens3
Marker genes3
GenBank sequences1
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.
★rbcLa★ITS1★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type1 200 records
Wild obs. + sensor268
Museum / vouchered932
Origin
Native174
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO3 740 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 accuracy92% within 1 km
≤100 m 136≤1 km 22≤10 km 5>10 km 8
171 georeferenced · 97 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor268
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 accuracy63% within 1 km
≤100 m 59≤1 km 104≤10 km 86>10 km 10
259 georeferenced · 673 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence932
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 institutions35 of 53 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
214
Riverside, US
178
ASUlocation not on record
111
San Diego, US
99
Flagstaff, US
40
Bronx, US
40
Phoenix, US
26
Davis, US
21
Mexico City, MX
15
Santa Barbara, US
14
Provo, US
11
Severin-McDaniel Insect Collectionlocation not on record
10
Los Angeles, US
10
Orem, US
9
San Luis Obispo, US
9
DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record
8
Angwin, US
8
Arcata, US
8
Henderson, US
7
CASlocation not on record
6
EL PASO, US
5
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
5
Arizona Western Collegelocation not on record
5
Albuquerque, US
5
San Jose, US
4
Logan, US
4
Pullman, US
3
Austin, US
3
Wuzhou, CN
3
Ensenada, MX
2
Bloomington, US
2
Pocatello, US
2
US
2
Moscow, US
2
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
2
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
1
Irvine, US
1
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
1
Kew, GB
1
SEINetlocation not on record
1
Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalitionlocation not on record
1
San Diego Natural History Museumlocation not on record
1
Northridge, US
1
Arizona State University Biocollectionslocation not on record
1
San Diego Natural History Museum, Herbariumlocation not on record
1
Tempe, US
1
INFlocation not on record
1
BAYLUlocation not on record
1
San Francisco, US
1
Bureau of Land Managementlocation not on record
1
Baltimore, US
1
San Juan College School of Science Math & Engineeringlocation not on record
1
Chadron, US
1
53 institutions · 911 of 932 vouchered records shown · 21 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA2 detections
Where the DNA of Pectocarya heterocarpa 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
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 median13.9 °C 10.5–17.3
Seasonal swing summer↔winter18.7 °C
Max temp (day)20.7 °C 17.4–24.0
Min temp (night)7.40 °C 4.10–10.7
Precipitation44.6 mm/mo 28.0–61.2
Air humidity47.1 % 46.4–47.8
Moisture balance-91.9 mm/mo -112–-71.3
Vapour deficit879 Pa 684–1,075
Wind speed4.90 m/s 3.60–6.20
Cloud cover34.8 % 33.2–36.4
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 2 detection points · 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.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation2 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 200 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics3 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗