Chaenactis douglasii

Chaenactis douglasii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Genus: Chaenactis
Species: C. douglasii
Binomial name
Chaenactis douglasii
(Hook.) Hook. & Arn.
Synonyms[1]

Chaenactis douglasii is a North American species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name Douglas' dustymaiden.

Distribution

The plant is western Canada and the western United States from British Columbia to Saskatchewan, and south to California to New Mexico, with a few isolated populations in Nebraska and the Dakotas.[2] It grows in a wide variety of habitats, including harsh environments such as rock fields in alpine climates in the Sierra Nevada, and disturbed areas such as roadsides.[3]

Description

Chaenactis douglasii is a variable herb, generally a perennial. It grows erect to a maximum height near 50 or 60 centimeters (20–24 inches), with one to many stems coated in cobwebby hairs. The woolly or hairy leaves may be up to 15 centimeters (6 inches) long and are divided intricately into many lobes with curled or twisted tips.[4]

The inflorescence produces one or more flower heads, each up to about 2 centimeters long. The flower head is lined with flat, glandular, blunt-pointed phyllaries and contains several white or pinkish tubular flowers with protruding anthers.[4]

The fruit is an achene about a centimeter long including its pappus of scales.[4]

Uses

Some Plateau Indian tribes used this plant as a dressing for burns, wounds, and sores.[5]

Varieties

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chaenactis douglasii.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.