WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Spreading by rhizomes, the erect woolly-white, densely hairy stems 8–36-inches tall can form dense colonies. Snow-white phyllaries clasp the flower heads turning them into pearls covering the forest floor. Note the narrow, two-toned leaves.

FLOWER: July–October. Clusters of pearl-shaped flower heads 3/8-inch wide (1 cm) have white, papery petal-like bracts tightly surrounding yellow disk florets. Male and female flowers grow in separate heads on the same plant.

LEAVES: Basal. Alternate stem blades narrow, 1–4-inches long (3–10 cm), 3/4-inch wide (2 cm); surfaces bicolored, green above, white-woolly below; margins often slightly roll under.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, loam soils, stream banks, slopes, mountain meadows; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 5,200–12,520 feet.

RANGE: Widespread Rocky Mt. states and westward and northern border states to Atlantic.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Pussytoes, Antennaria parvifolia, in much the same habitat and range, reaches only 8-inches tall has leaves hairy on both sides.   

NM COUNTIES: Mountains in western 2/3 NM in mid- to-high elevation habitats; Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos.