Flora of North America species comparison

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Psilocarphus elatior

meadow woollyheads, tall woolly-heads, tall woolly-marbles
Habit Plants greenish gray to silvery, ± sericeous.
Stems

1(–3), ± erect;

proximal internode lengths mostly 0.5–1.5(–2) times leaf lengths.
Receptacles

unlobed.
Heads

± spheric, largest 6–8 mm.
Cypselae

± cylindric, terete, 0.9–1.7 mm.
Capitular

leaves ± erect, appressed to heads, mostly oblanceolate to nearly linear, widest in distal 1/3, longest mostly 17–35 mm, lengths mostly 4.5–9 times widths, 2.5–5 times head heights.
Pistillate

paleae collectively ± hidden by indument, longest 2.8–3.8 mm (lengths 1.5–3 times longest diams.; wings supramedian).
Staminate

corollas 1.3–1.9 mm, lobes 5.

Psilocarphus elatior
Phenology Flowering and fruiting mid May–mid Aug.
Habitat Mainly coastal or montane, relatively dry or seasonally flooded, wooded, grassy, or barren slopes, flats, often disturbed sites (roadsides, trails, drainages), rarely near vernal pools
Elevation 0–1700 m (0–5600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Psilocarphus elatior occurs west of the Cascade Range from California to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and in scattered areas eastward (northwestern Montana, mountains surrounding the border area common to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho). Reports of P. elatior from Alberta and Saskatchewan were based on relatively erect forms of P. brevissimus var. brevissimus. Psilocarphus elatior has been of conservation concern in Canada (J. M. Illingworth and G. W. Douglas 1994).

Where sympatric, Psilocarphus elatior tends to inhabit relatively dry or seasonally flooded sites in more mesic coastal or montane climates and P. brevissimus var. brevissimus occurs mainly in wetter, seasonally inundated sites in semiarid climates. Some specimens appear to be intermediate; further study may show the two taxa to be better treated as varietally distinct. See also under P. brevissimus var. multiflorus.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 19, p. 458.
Parent taxa Asteraceae > tribe Gnaphalieae > Psilocarphus
Sibling taxa
P. brevissimus, P. chilensis, P. oregonus, P. tenellus
Synonyms P. oregonus var. elatior
Name authority (A. Gray) A. Gray: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. ed. 2, 1: 448. (1886)
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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