Arnica angustifolia Vahl
alpine arnica (narrowleaf arnica)
Asteraceae (Aster family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
alpine arnica (narrowleaf arnica)
Asteraceae (Aster family)
Introduction to Vascular Plants
Photograph
© Alfred Cook (Photo ID #8291)
SUBTAXA PRESENT IN BC
Species Information
General:
Perennial herb, from an ascending, fibrous-rooted rhizome or stem-base; stems leafy, erect or sometimes ascending, simple or branched only in the inflorescence, sparsely to densely hairy or sometimes glandular at least in the upper portion, 10-50 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves lance-shaped to narrowly elliptic, hairy and often glandular, stalked, entire to toothed; stem leaves opposite, 2-4 pairs (rarely 1 or 5), reduced and becoming unstalked and entire upwards.
Flowers:
Heads with ray and disk flowers, solitary to 5 (rarely 7), the bases densely white-hairy; involucres 10-18 mm tall; involucral bracts lance-shaped, hairy, and usually glandular; ray flowers yellow, 10-16, toothed at the apex; disk flowers yellow.
Fruits:
Achenes 4-8 mm long, uniformly densely hairy and often glandular; pappus white, finely-barbed.
Notes:
Two subspecies occur in BC.
1. Plants and involucres conspicuously white, woolly long-hairy; stems 5-20 cm tall, common in the alpine zone throughout BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains......................... ssp. tomentosa (Macoun) G. W. Dougl. & G. Ruyle-Dougl.
1. Plants and involucres never conspicuously white, woolly long-hairy; stems 10-25 (rarely 30) cm tall frequent in N and E BC...................... ssp. angustifolia
(Note modified from the original)
Ecology
Ecological Framework for Arnica angustifolia
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)
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)
| Site Information |
Value / Class |
||
|
Avg |
Min |
Max |
|
| Elevation
(metres) |
1841 | 905 | 2440 |
| Slope
Gradient (%) |
26 | 0 | 110 |
|
Aspect (degrees) |
190 | 1 | 360 |
| Soil
Moisture Regime (SMR) [0 - very xeric; 4 - mesic; 8 - hydric] |
3 | 0 | 7 |
| Modal
Nutrient Regime
Class |
C | ||
| #
of field plots species was recorded in: |
126 | ||
| Modal
BEC Zone Class |
ESSF | ||
|
All BEC Zones (# of stations/zone) species was recorded in |
AT(15), BAFA(23), ESSF(66), IMA(6), MS(1), SBPS(1), SBS(3), SWB(10) | ||
|
Source:
Klinkenberg 2013
|
|||
Habitat and Range
Mesic to dry sites from the montane to alpine zones; common in BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains (see key below); circumboreal, N to AK and YT, E to NF and S to MN, SD and WA; Eurasia.Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Arnica alpina subsp. lonchophylla (Greene) Roy L. Taylor & MacBryde
Arnica alpina var. lonchophylla (Greene) S.L. Welsh
Arnica angustifolia subsp. lonchophylla (Greene) G.W. Douglas & G. Ruyle-Douglas
Arnica chionopappa Fernald
Arnica gaspensis Fernald
Arnica lonchophylla subsp. chionopappa (Fernald) Maguire