General: Perennial herb from a freely rooted rhizome; stems solitary, sometimes branched above, sparsely to densely hairy with multicellular hairs, sometimes also glandular, 15-65 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves elliptic, smaller than the stem leaves, often produced on separate shoots, often deciduous by flowering time; stem leaves 2-4 pairs, opposite, lanceolate to oblanceolate or elliptic, 2-20 cm long, 0.5-2.5 cm wide, reduced above, glabrous to glandular and hairy, stalked below, unstalked above, entire to coarsely toothed.
Flowers: Heads with ray and disk flowers, 1-5, usually erect, the bases hairy and glandular; involucres 10-18 mm tall; involucral bracts lanceolate to oblanceolate, hairy, and with stalked glands; ray flowers yellow, 14-20, short-toothed at the tips; disk flowers yellow.
Fruits: Achenes 5.0-7.5 mm long, usually moderately hairy and sometimes glandular; pappus brownish, more or less feathery.
Moist to mesic meadows and open forests in the lowland to alpine zones; common in S BC, less frequent northward; N to AK, YT and NT, E to AB and S to CO, UT 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)
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Arnica amplexicaulis subsp. genuina Maguire Arnica amplexicaulis subsp. prima (Maguire) Maguire Arnica amplexicaulis var. piperi H. St. John & Warren Arnica amplexicaulis var. prima (Maguire) B. Boivin Arnica amplexifolia Rydb. Arnica mollis var. aspera (Greene) B. Boivin Arnica mollis var. silvatica (Greene) Maguire
