General: Perennial herb from a taproot and stout, thickened stem-base; stems erect, simple, densely glandular and spreading-hairy to nearly glabrous, 3-25 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves 3-forked or 2-4 times divided in 3's, hairy like the stems, 5-8 cm long (including the long stalk); stem leaves few, reduced, mostly linear and entire.
Flowers: Heads with ray and disk flowers (sometimes discoid), solitary, the disks 8-20 mm wide; involucres 5-10 mm tall; involucral bracts thin, subequal and purplish, at least at the tips; ray flowers 20-60, white, pink or blue, up to 12 mm long and 2 mm wide; disk flowers 3-5 mm long.
Fruits: Achenes 2-nerved, long stiff-hairy; pappus simple, of 12-20 bristles.
Notes: The var. discoideus A. Gray, although known from adjacent WA and YT, has yet to be collected in BC. Most BC material named such are misidentifications of E. salishii and E. trifidus. The var. discoideus was first recorded in BC in 1999 at Merritt (Douglas et al. 2002). The two varieties may be distinguished as follows:
1. Leaves 2-4 times divided in 3's................ var. glabratus Macoun
1. Leaves 3-forked..................... var. discoideus A. Gray
Dry rocky meadows, scree slopes, fellfields and gravelly river terraces from the steppe to alpine zones; common throughout BC (var. glabratus), rare in SC BC (var. discoideus); var. glabratus N to AK, YT and NT, E to NF and S to AZ and CA, var. discoideus N to YT and S to CO and WA.
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)
