Cottontop

Plants 1–50 cm. Heads mostly 3–4 × 4.5–6 mm. Pistillate paleae densely and loosely lanuginose, longest usually 3–4 mm. Staminate corollas 1.3–2 mm. Cypselae 1.8–2.6 mm; pappi: staminate 1.3–1.5 mm.

Flowering and fruiting mid Mar–early Jul. Slopes, flats, dry or seasonally moist soils of various substrates (including serpentine), often recently disturbed, in grasslands, chaparral, wooded areas, clearings, mostly inland from coastal fog belt; 10–1600 m; Calif., Oreg.; Mexico (Baja California).

Variety californicus is known nearly throughout the west-draining portion of the Californian Floristic Province and the Willamette Valley, from western Oregon to northwestern Baja California, including the California Channel Islands and Isla Guadalupe.