Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Fineleaf Hymenopappus
Hymenopappus filifolius
Aster family (Asteraceae)

Very fine thread-like mounds of leaves are evident for weeks before tall slender stalks arise and are then topped by several small flowers which range from golden yellow to lemon yellow. There are only flowers. can be or hairy.Hymenopappus filifolius,like so many Asteraceae composed only of flowers, is easily overlooked. It is easy to confuse this plant with Chaenactis douglasii variety douglasii. "Hymenopappus" refers to the and "filifolius" is from the Latin "fili," "thread" and "folius," "leaf." The botanist David Douglas (of Douglas Fir fame) was the first to collect this plant for science. He did so along the Columbia River "near Wallawallah" in the late 1820s.


©2009 Barry Breckling

Description

with stems to 2+' tall, hairy or smooth. to 8" long, cut into fine segments, light sage green, sometimes in very large clumps; stem leaves lacking or several, much reduced in size upward on the stem. Flowerheads, only, solitary or more commonly few to numerous, with 10 to over 60 flowers on stems to 4 inches long. yellow (infrequently white). an .

Field Marks

Tall, very slender sage green plant, finely cut leaves, small disk only flowerheads at top of long leafless stems.

© Al Schneider

ray flowers -- The outer petals of a sunflower or daisy are ray flowers.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

membranous -- thin, somewhat translucent and flexible.

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

disc flowers are those in the center of a sunflower or daisy. Not a ray flower.

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

phyllaries -- Leaflike bracts covering the flowers before opening and remaining under the flower after it opens. Also called "bracts". Only used with the sunflower family (Asteraceae).

pappus -- Small scales, bristles or hairs at the top of the seed in Asteraceae. For example, dandelion parachutes. Plural: pappi.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.