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white-flower rabbitbrush

discoid goldenweed, rayless goldenbush, sharp-scale goldenweed, white-stem goldenbush

Habit Plants 10–150 cm. Plants 10–40 cm.
Stems

erect to ascending, pale green when young, becoming whitish, fastigiately branched, glabrous, resinous at and distal to nodes.

erect to spreading, abundantly branched, twigs green when young, concealed by whitish, pannose tomentum, sporadically stipitate-glandular.

Leaves

usually ascending, recurved when older;

blades filiform (adaxially sulcate), 15–35 × 0.5–2 mm, midnerves obscure, apices acute, often mucronate, faces glabrous, gland-dotted (in pits and sessile);

axillary leaf fascicles often present.

ascending to spreading;

blades linear or oblong to oblanceolate (flat), 10–35 × 2–7 mm, midnerves evident (1–2 fainter, collateral nerves often present), (margins often undulate) apices acute to obtuse, usually apiculate, faces usually stipitate-glandular, resinous;

axillary fascicles absent.

Peduncles

usually less than 10 mm (ebracteate).

3–15 mm (bracts 0–3, reduced, leaflike, whitish tomentose and usually stipitate-glandular).

Involucres

turbinate, 6–10 × 2–4 mm.

obconic, 9–13 × 6–10 mm.

Ray florets

0.

0.

Disc florets

5–7;

corollas 4.7–7 mm.

10–26;

corollas 9–11 mm.

Phyllaries

15–20 in 3–4 series, green to tan, ovate to lanceolate, 1.5–6 × 0.7–1.5 mm, unequal, outer herbaceous or herbaceous-tipped, inner mostly chartaceous (bodies truncate or tapering gradually or abruptly to bases of herbaceous appendages), midnerves faint (margins membranous, usually ciliate), apices (outer and mid) cuspidate (tips squarrose), abaxial faces glabrous, resinous.

12–17 in 2–3 series, green to tan, lanceolate to oblong, 6–10 × 1–2 mm, subequal, outer herbaceous or distally so, inner mostly chartaceous, midnerves evident, (margins of outer often distally stipitate-glandular, of inner narrowly membranous, sometimes minutely ciliolate) apices acute to attenuate, abaxial faces stipitate-glandular.

Heads

in rounded, cymiform arrays (to 5 cm wide).

borne singly or in cymiform to racemiform arrays.

Cypselae

tan, narrowly turbinate to subcylindric or narrowly ellipsoid, 4–5 mm (5-ribbed), moderately hairy to sericeous, often gland-dotted (glands spheric, glistening) distally;

pappi whitish, 4.5–5.5 mm.

brownish, narrowly oblong to narrowly ovoid, 5–6 mm, villous;

pappi tan, 8.5–11 mm.

2n

= 18.

= 18.

Ericameria albida

Ericameria discoidea

Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat Dry, alkaline plains, sandy or silty soils Rocky, open or sparsely wooded slopes, often in coarse talus
Elevation 300–1800 m (1000–5900 ft) 2500–3800 m (8200–12500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Ericameria albida is common in the Great Basin region.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Ericameria discoidea is common in the Rocky Mountains.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 54. FNA vol. 20, p. 58.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Ericameria Asteraceae > tribe Astereae > Ericameria
Sibling taxa
E. arborescens, E. arizonica, E. bloomeri, E. brachylepis, E. cervina, E. compacta, E. cooperi, E. crispa, E. cuneata, E. discoidea, E. ericoides, E. fasciculata, E. gilmanii, E. greenei, E. laricifolia, E. lignumviridis, E. linearifolia, E. linearis, E. nana, E. nauseosa, E. obovata, E. ophitidis, E. palmeri, E. paniculata, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pinifolia, E. resinosa, E. suffruticosa, E. teretifolia, E. watsonii, E. winwardii, E. zionis
E. albida, E. arborescens, E. arizonica, E. bloomeri, E. brachylepis, E. cervina, E. compacta, E. cooperi, E. crispa, E. cuneata, E. ericoides, E. fasciculata, E. gilmanii, E. greenei, E. laricifolia, E. lignumviridis, E. linearifolia, E. linearis, E. nana, E. nauseosa, E. obovata, E. ophitidis, E. palmeri, E. paniculata, E. parishii, E. parryi, E. pinifolia, E. resinosa, E. suffruticosa, E. teretifolia, E. watsonii, E. winwardii, E. zionis
Synonyms Bigelowia albida, Chrysothamnus albidus Macronema discoidea, Haplopappus macronema
Name authority (M. E. Jones ex A. Gray) L. C. Anderson: Great Basin Naturalist 55: 86. (1995) (Nuttall) G. L. Nesom: Phytologia 68: 153. (1990)
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