Growing in a dense mat of hairy basal leaves, flowering stems reach 4-inches tall with a tight array of 2–7 tiny, woolly-white, bristle-like flower heads that don’t spread open. Note the leaves are hairy on both sides.

FLOWERS: May–July. Tight clusters with 2–7 erect, tiny, hairy flower heads to 1/4–3/8-inch long (7–10 mm), male and female flowers separate; phyllaries with white, green, brown, or pink tips.

LEAVES: Basal leaves 3/8–1 3/8-inches long (8–35 mm), spatula-shaped to oblong, with 1 nerve. Alternate stem leaves linear to lance-shaped, to 3/4-inch long (20 mm); both surfaces densely hairy, margins entire.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly loam soils, woodlands, meadows; sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa/yellow pine, Douglas fir-aspen, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,000–11,300 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, UT; widespread in Rocky Mountain states.

SIMILAR SPECIES: White-margin Pussytoes, A. marginata, in the same range, has bright-green basal leaves with no hair on the upper surface and contrasting white-woolly margins, and white-tipped phyllaries. Three other species have stems to 4–12-inches tall. Rosy pussytoes, A. rosea, has flowers with red bracts, and leaves with hairless bottoms.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide, except eastern plains, in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Eddy, Grant, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance,  Union, Valencia.