Cruise’s goldenaster

Chrysopsis cruiseana Dress, Gentes Herb. 8: 408, fig. 126. 1954

Perennials, 10–50 cm. Stems 1–80 (older plants), procumbent, branched proximally. Leaves: mid and distal cauline numerous, crowded; blades linear-elliptic to oblong, margins not ciliate, glabrous. Heads in compact umbelliform arrays. Phyllaries appressed, glabrate or glabrous, a few stipitate glands proximally on outer series. 2n = 18.

Flowering Oct–Dec. Sand dunes; 0–10 m; Ala., Fla.

Subspecies cruiseana is found in the western panhandle of Florida and adjacent Alabama, on the Gulf coast and barrier islands. Its habitat is threatened through destruction of the coastal dune systems. Putative subsp. cruiseana plants seen from South Carolina are atypical forms of subsp. gossypina forma trichophylla with small leaves and slightly glandular phyllaries; they do have the prostrate habit and general appearance of typical subsp. cruiseana. Hybridization with subsp. hyssopifolia occurs in scattered locations where barrier islands contact the mainland in Florida. Hybrids with C. godfreyi have been collected in Fort Walton Beach, Florida (J. C. Semple and C. C. Chinnappa 1980).