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General:
Perennial herb with short and leafy or more elongate and nearly naked stolons; stems erect, several, branched above, thinly woolly-hairy, 15-35 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves spoon-shaped to oblanceolate, 20-40 mm long, 6-12 mm wide, 1- to 3-nerved, green above, woolly-hairy below, with sharp, slender tips; stem leaves linear, 12-40 mm long, with or without papery tips.
Flowers:
Heads few to many in a compact inflorescence; involucres of 1 type, these female, 6-10 mm tall, hairy at the base; involucral bracts narrow, abruptly sharp-pointed, light brown, white, cream or sometimes rose at the base; female flowers 4-6.5 mm long.
Fruits:
Achenes elliptic, 1-2 mm long, pappilate; pappus white with hairlike bristles, 6-8 mm long.
Notes:
Bayer (1989) split this species from A. neglecta based on the fact that this complex of apomicts are of hybrid polyploid origin from among many sexual progenitors and to place it with any one of these (i.e., A. neglecta) is not desirable. Two subspecies occur in BC.
1. Basal leaves 1-3 nerved, more than 9 mm wide; upper stem leaves usually without papery tips; involucral bract tips light brown to white.................... ssp. howellii
1. Basal leaves 1-nerved, less than 9 mm wide; upper stem leaves usually with papery tips; involucral bract tips white or cream or sometimes rose at the base....................... ssp. canadensis (Greene) Bayer
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
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