| Wyethia mollis | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Genus: | Wyethia |
| Species: | W. mollis |
| Binomial name | |
| Wyethia mollis A.Gray |
|
Wyethia mollis is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name woolly mule's ears. The plant is hairy to woolly in texture, sometimes losing its hairs with age. The species name mollis means "soft", in reference to the soft hairs on the leaves.
Wyethia mollis is a coarse perennial herb[1] native to the mountains of northern California (especially on the east side of the Sierra Nevada), southeastern Oregon, and western Nevada, where it grows in forests and other mountain habitat such as dry open meadows with sagebrush. It grows from a tough taproot and caudex unit and producing a stem 30 to 40 centimeters tall, but reaching a meter in height at times. It does well in volcanic soils because of its deep roots[2], and can sometimes cover an entire hillside, as in the image at lower right.
The leaves (as in the image below) have lance-shaped or oval blades up to 40 centimeters long which are glandular and coated in woolly hairs, especially when new. They usually grow up vertically from the base. The inflorescence is a solitary flower head, as in the image below, or a cluster of 2 or 3 heads, each with up to 11 yellow ray florets which may be up to 4.5 centimeters long. The fruit is an achene about a centimeter long, not counting its pappus; the seeds are edible, tasting similar to sunflower seeds[1].