White Easterbonnets
Antheropeas lanosum
(Eriophyllum lanosum)
Photographed at Robbins Butte, Maricopa Co., Arizona. March 9, 2008. View file at Wikimedia. Also visible in this photo are two other diminutive spring annuals. Just left of center is a Woolly Plantain (Plantago ovata), while just right of back center is a small Cryptantha, possibly Narrow-leaf Popcorn Flower, (Cryptantha angustifolia).
ANNUAL: A dwark annual of spring typically just several centemeters
tall. Proper appreciation by the botanist or nature lover may require lieing
prone in the desert.
FLOWERS: Bright white ray flowers and yellow disc flowers create a
miniature daisy-like composite head.
LEAVES: Leaves are linear-elyptic and are covered with silky hairs.
RANGE: Frequent throughout the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico on
gently rockys slopes or desert flats.
FRUIT: Small
achenes with a
pappus of scales.
UNARMED. No thorns or spines.