Alpine lake false dandelion

Troximon alpestre A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 70. 1883; Agoseris alpestris (A. Gray) Greene; Microseris alpestris (A. Gray) Q. Jones ex Cronquist

Plants 3–45 cm. Stems (peduncles) ebracteate. Leaves: blades linear to oblanceolate, 3–20 cm, bases attenuate to obtuse, margins plane, usually coarsely toothed or pinnately lobed (lobes spreading or retrorse), sometimes entire, sometimes ciliolate, faces glabrous. Involucres 10–20 mm. Phyllaries 8–35, evenly and minutely purple-dotted, ovate-lanceolate, apices acuminate. faces glabrous. Florets 13–75; ligules 10–20 mm. Cypselae brown, 5–10 mm, sometimes narrowed distally 1–3 mm, not beaked; pappi of 30–50, barbellulate bristles 6–10 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering Jul–Sep. Meadows, rocky slopes, pumice flats, mixed subalpine woodland and Abies subalpine zone; 1300–2500 m; Calif., Oreg., Wash.

Nothocalaïs alpestris grows in the subalpine Cascade Range, Klamath Mountains, and (rarely) the Sierra Nevada.