Packera werneriifolia

Hoary groundsel

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Hoary groundsel is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and eastern Sierra Nevada in rocky talus slopes and forest openings at elevations of 3,000 to 3,650 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces white flower heads in small clusters with 8 to 13 ray flowers. Growing with short, woolly stems 7 to 15 centimeters tall that emerge from dense, branching rhizomes, it has a compact alpine growth form. Its basal leaves are narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, 1.5 to 4 centimeters long, with entire margins often rolled underneath, while cauline leaves are reduced to small bract-like structures. The plant's heads feature green phyllaries that are occasionally tipped with red and contain 30 to 50 disk flowers.

Habitat: Common. Rocky talus slopes, sandy soils in forest openings

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: 3000-3650 m

Bioregions: SNH, SNE

California counties: Inyo, Mono, Tulare, Tuolumne, Fresno, Alpine, El Dorado, Mariposa, Madera, Calaveras

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.