Click on the image below to view an
expanded illustration for this species.
|
General:
Perennial herb from a taproot and woody base; stems spreading, several to many, simple or more often branched, glabrous, 2-20 cm tall.
Leaves:
Basal leaves numerous, spoon-shaped to orbicular or egg-shaped, long-stalked, 1-8.5 cm long, 0.2-2.5 cm wide, entire, obtuse, glabrous, often purplish; stem leaves similar to the basal, fewer, reduced.
Flowers:
Heads with strap-shaped flowers, several to more often numerous, usually in a rounded, compact inflorescence; involucres 7-13 mm tall, cylindric; involucral bracts glabrous, the outer ones 5-8, lanceolate, tapering to a slender tip, less than 1/2 as long as the 8-12 inner ones, these oblong, narrowed to the obtuse tips, purplish and fringed with small hairs, becoming thickened near the base; receptacles glabrous; ray flowers yellow, 7-9 mm long.
Fruits:
Achenes golden brown, mostly 4-7 mm long, subterete, columnar, scarcely to evidently narrowed or tapering to a slender tip above, or sometimes with a short beak less than 0.5 mm long, about 10- to 13-ribbed, the ribs smooth or faintly wrinkled; pappus white, of fine soft, hairlike bristles, deciduous.
Notes:
Some of our material, namely taller specimens, has been designated as ssp. ramosa Babc. Further study is required to show that this is not merely an environmentally-induced form without taxonomic significance. Two other infraspecific taxa, var. clivicola Leggett and var. lyratifolia (Turcq.) Hult. also remain doubtful.
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
|
