Trail plant

Aerial stems usually leafy only near bases, openly branched. Leaves: petioles winged; blades 3–nerved, 3–25 cm. Phyllaries 5–6(–10), 1–2 mm. Peripheral florets: corollas soon falling, 0.5–1.2 mm. Inner florets: corollas tardily falling, 1–2.3 mm. Cypselae 5–9 mm. 2n = 46.

Flowering Jun–Oct. Woods, forests, usually in shade; 0–2000 m; Alta., B.C., Ont.; Calif., Idaho, Mich., Minn., Mont., Oreg., S.Dak., Wash., Wis., Wyo.

Adenocaulon bicolor is a common forest herb from southwestern Canada to central California. It is disjunct in the Black Hills (eastern Wyoming, western South Dakota) and the Great Lakes region (southern Ontario, northern Michigan). Reports of the species from Minnesota and Wisconsin are unverified.