General: Perennial herb, mat-forming with slightly woody, ascending stolons 1-7 cm long; stems erect, few, branched above, densely woolly-hairy, 6-16 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves spoon-shaped to oblanceolate, gradually stalked, 5-20 mm long, 2-6 mm wide, grey-hairy to densely grey or white woolly-hairy, 1-nerved; stem leaves similar, becoming unstalked, linear, reduced upwards, abruptly sharp-pointed, with a sharp, slender point.
Flowers: Heads few to several in a compact inflorescence; involucres of 2 types, the female ones 3-6.5 mm tall, the male ones similar, 4-6.5 mm tall; involucral bracts lanceolate, the upper portion light brown, sometimes white or streaked with pink, either abruptly sharp-pointed (female) or blunt (male); female flowers 2.5-3.5 mm long, male flowers 2.5-3.5 mm long.
Fruits: Female and male achenes 0.5-1.2 mm long, glabrous; pappus white with hairlike bristles, 3-5 mm long.
Mesic to dry meadows, fellfields, shrublands, grasslands and forests from the lowland to the alpine zones; frequent throughout BC; N to AK, YT and NT, E to AB and S to AZ, CO and CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
