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white-flower rabbitbrush

bighead goldenbush, goldenweed, heath goldenrod, shrubby goldenweed, single-head goldenweed, singlehead 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.

spreading to erect (bushes mostly broader than high), highly branched, green when young, becoming reddish brown, long-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;

blades oblanceolate, 5–40 × 2–7 mm, midnerves evident, (margins crispate) apices acute, faces long-stipitate-glandular;

fascicles absent or of 1–3 leaves.

Peduncles

usually less than 10 mm (ebracteate).

2–20(–40) mm (bracts 1–10+, leaflike).

Involucres

turbinate, 6–10 × 2–4 mm.

campanulate, 9–15 × 10–15 mm.

Ray florets

0.

(0–)1–8;

laminae elliptic, 8–14 × 1.5–4 mm.

Disc florets

5–7;

corollas 4.7–7 mm.

15–40;

corollas 8.5–10.5 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.

17–31 in 2–3 series, green to tan, lanceolate to obovate, 8–18 × 1–4 mm, subequal, outer herbaceous or herbaceous-tipped, inner chartaceous to herbaceous-tipped, midnerves (+ 2 smaller, collateral nerves) often evident, (margins herbaceous or narrowly membranous, mostly stipitate glandular to fimbriate) apices acute to acuminate, abaxial faces stipitate-glandular.

Heads

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

borne singly or (2–3) in (leafy) racemiform arrays (1–4 cm wide).

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.

narrowly turbinate to ellipsoid, 5.5–8 mm, villous;

pappi tan, 7.5–9 mm.

2n

= 18.

= 18.

Ericameria albida

Ericameria suffruticosa

Phenology Flowering late summer–fall. Flowering mid summer–fall.
Habitat Dry, alkaline plains, sandy or silty soils Rocky slopes and ridges in conifer forests and alpine zones
Elevation 300–1800 m (1000–5900 ft) 2100–3500 m (6900–11500 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WY
[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.)

Source FNA vol. 20, p. 54. FNA vol. 20, p. 76.
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. 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. teretifolia, E. watsonii, E. winwardii, E. zionis
Synonyms Bigelowia albida, Chrysothamnus albidus Macronema suffruticosa, Haplopappus suffruticosus
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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