Leaves ovate (oval, widest in the middle), cuneate (wedge-shaped, wide at base), cordate (heart-shaped), or obovate (oval, widest at the tip), ~0.8 - 5 cm long, glabrous (shiny without hairs), entire (smooth margins), sessile (attached directly to stem at base without a petiole), arranged alternately along the stems. Leaves and stems somewhat fleshy. The stems are ~10-50 cm long, both erect (vertical) and decumbent (sprawling along the ground), with new plants coming up among the dead stems of the previous year's plants, giving a somewhat tangled look. The older stems and leaves are reddish, while the younger ones are light green. The inflorescence is axillary and sessile, with 1-5 tiny greenish flowers, each with 1 stamen and 3 stigmas. Flowers from April through May. Fruit is a tiny (~1 mm), finely ribbed, somewhat deflated-looking sphere, which produces a tiny, wrinkled, lens-shaped black seed. Plant is an annual herb, inconspicuous, usually found on bluffs and the coastal strand and in California sage scrub. This one species genus is in marked decline due to disturbance of its habitat, from north of the Bay Area south into Baja, extirpated in much of its habitat.
Aphanisma blitoides (Amaranthaceae or Chenopodiaceae): aphanisma, San Diego coastalcreeper
The development of this key was partially funded through the Geoscience Diversity Enhancement Program (Award #0703798) and through a course of re-assigned time provided by the CSULB Scholarly and Creative Activities Committee. Thanks also to the students in sections of biogeography, introductory physical geography, GDEP, and LSAMP for "test-driving" various editions of this key.