Psilocarphus elatior

Tall woolly-marbles, Tall Woolly-Marbles

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Tall woolly-marbles is a California native annual found in the Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau in drying, vernally wet or inundated places at elevations of 900 to 1,700 meters. Flowering from June to July, this plant produces silvery-green heads with small flowers approximately 6 to 8 millimeters in diameter. Growing with 1 to 3 stems reaching up to 35 centimeters tall, it develops a silky-tomentose appearance with distinctive green to silvery coloration. Its leaves are generally oblanceolate to linear, with the longest leaves measuring 17 to 35 millimeters and typically 4.5 to 9 times longer than their width. The tiny fruits are approximately 0.9 to 1.7 millimeters long and nearly cylindrical.

Habitat: Drying, vernally wet or inundated places, often disturbed

Bloom period: Jun-Jul

Elevation: 900-1700 m

Bioregions: CaRH, MP (exc Wrn)

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