Montana Field Guide

Mat-forming perennial from a woody, branched caudex. Flowering stems ascending to erect, 15–40 cm. Leaves: basal blades tomentose, less so upward, linear to oblanceolate, 15–50 mm long. Inflorescence a compound, umbellate cyme usually subtended by a whorl of leaf-like bracts at mid-stem as well as at the base of the inflorescence; involucres tomentose, 3–5 mm long with 6 to 12 reflexed lobes. Flowers 4–8 mm long, white to ochroleucus, campanulate with a long, tubular base; tepals glabrous or sparsely long-hairy, similar in shape; stamens exserted. Achenes 3–5 mm long (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Grasslands, sagebrush steppe, occasionally open forest; valleys (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

POLLINATORS
The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap: Bombus bifarius, Bombus centralis, Bombus flavifrons, Bombus huntii, Bombus melanopygus, Bombus mixtus, Bombus ternarius, Bombus occidentalis, Bombus insularis, and Bombus flavidus (Thorp et al. 1983, Koch et al. 2012, Williams et al. 2014).