White Easterbonnets
Antheropeas lanosum
(Eriophyllum lanosum)
Photographed at Robbins Butte, Maricopa Co., Arizona. March 9, 2008. View a full resolution 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 dwarf annual of spring typically just
several centemeters tall. Proper appreciation by the botanist or
nature lover may require a prone position 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.