Woolly Easterbonnets

Annuals, 1–15 cm. Stems erect to spreading or ascending. Leaf blades obovate to spatulate, 7–20 mm, sometimes 3-lobed, ultimate margins entire, plane (apices ± rounded), faces ± woolly. Heads usually borne singly. Peduncles 1–3 cm. Involucres broadly campanulate, 4–6 mm diam. Phyllaries 5–10, distinct. Ray florets 5–10; laminae usually cream or yellow, sometimes white with red veins, 3–4 mm. Disc florets 20–30; corollas 2–3 mm (tubes cylindric, throats funnelform, gradually dilated, lobes glandular; anther appendages subulate, not glandular). Cypselae ± 2 mm; pappi usually of 6–10 ± oblong scales 0.4–0.8 mm, rarely 0. 2n = 10 + 0–1 I or 0–3 B.

Bahia wallacei A. Gray in War Department [U.S.], Pacif. Railr. Rep. 4(5): 105. 1857; Antheropeas wallacei (A. Gray) Rydberg; Eriophyllum wallacei var. rubellum (A. Gray) A. Gray

Antheropeas wallacei (A. Gray) Rydberg
Bahia Wallacei A. Gray, in Torr. Pacif. R. R. Rep. 4: 105. 1857. Actinolepis Wallacei A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 9: 198. 1874. Eriophyllum Wallacei A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 19: 25. 1883. Eriophyllum aureutn Brand. Bot. Gaz. 27: 449. 1899.
A lanose annual, branching from the base; stems ascending or decumbent, 2-10 cm. high, white-tomentose; leaves obovate or spatulate, entire, 5-15 mm. long, densely and permanently floccose; peduncles usually less than 1 cm. long; involucre campanulate or turbinate, about 5 mm. high, 5-6 mm. broad; bracts 8-10; receptacle high-convex; ray-flowers 8-10; ligules yellow, 4 mm. long, 3 mm. wide, with 2 or 3 obscure teeth; disk-corollas 2-2.5 mm. long, gland ular-puberulent; style-branches with conic tips; achenes 2 mm. long, obtusely angled, glabrate or nearly so; squamellae 6-8, oblong, erose, about 0.5 mm. long or less, sometimes reduced to a mere crown or wanting.
Type locality: Teyanga, near Los Angeles, California. Distribution: Southern Utah to Arizona and southern California.

Antheropeas australe Rydberg, sp. nov
A floccose annual; stems branched at the base; branches ascending, 5-10 cm. high, densely floccose; leaves spatulate, 5-10 mm. long, entire, densely floccose; peduncles 1-3 cm. long; involucre turbinate, 5 mm. high and broad, densely floccose; bracts 8-10 mm. long; receptacle low-conic, obtuse; ray-flowers 8-10; ligules yellow, about 3 mm. long and 2 mm. wide; diskcorollas scarcely 2 mm. long, glandular-puberulent; achenes 2 mm. long, obtusely angled, decidedly appressed-hairy ; squamellae 8-10, elliptic, obtuse, erose, nearly 1 mm. long.
Type collected in the mountains of northern Lower California, 1884, Or cult (herb. Columbia Univ.).
Distribution: Northern Lower California and San Jacinto Mountains, California.

Antheropeas rubellum (A. Gray) Rydberg
Bahia rubella A. Gray, in Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. Surv. 95. 1859. Actinolepis Wallacei rubella A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 9: 198. 1874.
A lanose annual; stem erect or ascending, branched, 4-10 cm. high, white-tomentose;
leaves spatulate in outline, permanently floccose, 8-20 mm. long, often with 3 rounded lobes
at the apex; peduncles 1-2.5 cm. long; involucre turbinate-campanulate, 6-7 mm. high, 5-6
mm. broad, tomentose; bracts 8-10, acute or acuminate; receptacle high-convex; ray-flowers
8-10; ligules pale-purple, rose-colored, or rarely white, 3-4 mm. long, 2.5-3 mm. wide, distinctly
3or 4-toothed; disk-corollas yellow, 2-2.5 mm. long; tube densely glandular-pubescent ; st}de-
branches with conic tips; achenes 2 mm. long, glabrous; squamellae 6-8, oblong, erose, about
0.5 mm. long.
Type locality: San Felipe (between San Diego and the Rio Colorado, California). Distribution: Type locality and vicinity.

Eriophyllum wallacei is a North American flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names woolly daisy and woolly easterbonnets. It grows in the southwestern United States (Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and California, with an isolated population in Wyoming) and northwestern Mexico (northern Baja California). It may grow in clumps or on short erect stems in sand, rocks, and gravel.

It is a small, squat annual herb rarely more than 15 centimetres (6 inches) tall. The plant is covered in masses of white cotton-candy-like wool and has small oval leaves up to 2 cm (1 in) long. Between March and June it produces one flower head per stem, about 6 millimetres (1⁄4 in) wide and each with 5–10 yellow or cream-colored ray florets. The rays are about 3 mm (1⁄8 in) long and sometimes have red veins, surrounding 20–30 yellow disc florets. The seed is black and narrow.

In drier conditions, the plant tends to grow a single stem to ensure its reproduction via seed. With more moisture, it branches from the base into multiple stalks.