Bald daisy

Biennials or short-lived perennials, 10–14 cm; taprooted, without well-developed caudices. Stems ascending, hirsute, minutely glandular. Leaves basal (persistent) and cauline (petioles prominently ciliate, at least on proximal portions, hairs spreading, thick-based); basal blades oblong-spatulate to obovate-spatulate, 30–50 × 4–6 mm, cauline abruptly reduced distally, margins entire, faces hirsuto-villous, minutely glandular. Heads (disciform) 1–3 (usually from branches proximal to midstems). Involucres ca. 5 × 13–14 mm. Phyllaries in 2–3 series, coarsely hirsute, minutely glandular. Ray (pistillate) florets ca. 50–100; corollas usually tubular, lacking laminae, or laminae shorter than involucres. Disc corollas 4–5.1 mm (throats white-indurate, somewhat inflated, glabrate). Cypselae 1.5–1.6 mm (immature), 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose (carpopodia whitish); pappi: outer of setae, inner of 15–20 bristles.

Flowering Apr–May. Sagebrush and desert shrub; of conservation concern; ca. 1200 m; Calif.

Erigeron calvus is known only from the type collection.