Flora of North America species comparison

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Wyethia ×cusickii

Wyethia helenioides

hybrid mule's ears, mule-ears

gray mule's ears, whitehead mule-ears, whitehead wyethia
Habit Plants (15–)25–40(–60) cm.
Basal leaves

blades (whitish to grayish) oblong-ovate to lance-elliptic, 18–38 cm, margins usually entire, sometimes serrulate or dentate (often undulate), faces densely tomentose to tomentulose (usually gland-dotted as well), glabrescent;

cauline leaves (3–6) similar, smaller.
Involucres

hemispheric or broader, 35–60+ mm diam.
Ray florets

13–21;

laminae 20–35(–50) mm.
Phyllaries

16–24, unequal, herbaceous, margins not ciliolate, faces tomentose;

outer (30–)40–80+ mm (foliaceous, much surpassing the discs).
Heads

usually borne singly (–2+).
Cypselae

12–15 mm, distally strigillose.
2n

= 38.

Wyethia ×cusickii

Wyethia helenioides
Phenology Flowering (Feb–)Mar–May.
Habitat Grassy slopes, openings in woodlands
Elevation 10 –1600(–2000) m (0 –5200(–6600) ft)
Distribution
from USDA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Wyethia helenioides grows in the Sierra Nevada foothills and west of the Central Valley, avoiding the fog belt.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 21, p. 101.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Heliantheae > subtribe Ecliptinae > Wyethia
Sibling taxa
W. amplexicaulis, W. angustifolia, W. arizonica, W. glabra, W. helenioides, W. helianthoides, W. longicaulis, W. mollis
W. amplexicaulis, W. angustifolia, W. arizonica, W. glabra, W. helianthoides, W. longicaulis, W. mollis
Synonyms Alarconia helenioides
Name authority (de Candolle) Nuttall: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 353. (1840)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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