Psilocarphus elatior

Psilocarphus elatior is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names tall woollyheads, meadow woollyheads and tall woolly-marbles. It is native to the Pacific Northwest in western North America from Vancouver Island, where it is known from just a few occurrences,[1] to northern California. It grows in seasonally moist spots such as meadows, spring seeps, and vernal pools.

Psilocarphus elatior
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Asterids
Order:
Asterales
Family:
Asteraceae
Genus:
Psilocarphus
Species:
P. elatior
Binomial name
Psilocarphus elatior

This is a small erect annual herb growing up to about 15 centimeters tall with a pale silvery or gray-green branching stem coated in woolly or cobwebby fibers. The leaves are linear or lance-shaped and up to about 3.5 centimeters long. They are located along the stem and there are no basal leaves.

The inflorescence is a small, spherical flower head less than a centimeter wide located at the tip of the stem or in a leaf axils. It is a cluster of several tiny woolly disc flowers surrounded by leaflike bracts but no phyllaries. Each tiny flower is covered in a scale which is densely woolly with long white fibers, making the developing head appear cottony.

References
  1. Psilocarphus elatior. Archived 2011-02-03 at the Wayback Machine Garry Oak Ecosystems Recovery Team, British Columbia.


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