Showy goldeneye

Viguiera multiflora (Nuttall) S. F. Blake

Perennials, 20–120+ cm (caudices woody). Stems strigose or puberulent to glabrate. Leaves opposite or alternate; blades elliptic, lance-linear, lance-ovate, linear, or ovate, 10–90 × 2–28 mm, margins ciliate to ¹/4 their lengths, hairs mostly less than 0.5 mm, faces strigose, abaxial often gland-dotted. Heads 6–30+. Peduncles 1–15 cm, lengths ¹/20–¹/2 leafy portions of stems. Involucres 6–14 mm diam. Phyllaries 4–8 mm. Paleae oblong, 5–6 mm, cuspidate. Ray florets 5–14; laminae oval to oblong, 7–20 mm (gland-dotted along veins and abaxially). Disc florets 50+; corollas 3–4 mm. Cypselae black or gray-striate, 1.2–3 mm.

Heliomeris multiflora most frequently occurs in montane habitats. It produces a branched, woody caudex with adventitious buds, even in the first growing season. From the aerial parts of the plant there is little to distinguish it from H. longifolia, although it tends to have longer peduncles and broader leaves.

Varieties 3 (3 in the flora): sw United States, Mexico.