Erect with purple-streaked stems, showy, white ray flowers, yellow disc flowers and low hairy branches and leaves.
Erect often glandular annual, much branched with purple-streaked stems. Leaves basal, oblong or linear, toothed or lobed. Flowers radiate on slender stems; ray flowers white, disc flowers yellow. Achenes have a tangle of silky shining wool at bases.
Habitat
Desert washes, dry slopes and mesas in gravelly or sandy soils.
Flower Characteristics
Flower heads have an average of 8 white ray flowers tipped with 3 unequal teeth and 2 notches. Disc flowers are yellow. Flower heads are up to 1-1/2 inches wide with a base of green, hairy, glandular bracts.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Stem leaves are narrow with sticky hairs. Basal leaves have 1 to 5 pairs of short lobes and are up to 3 inches long.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Fruits have tufts of 10 to 15 slender, linear bristles up to 1/4 inch long.
Seeds are a favorite with birds.