Enceliopsis covillei

Enceliopsis covillei
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Tribe: Heliantheae
Genus: Enceliopsis
Species: E. covillei
Binomial name
Enceliopsis covillei
(A. Nelson) S.F.Blake

Enceliopsis covillei is a rare species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name Panamint daisy.

It is endemic in Inyo County, California, where it is known o from the rocky slopes of the western Panamint Range sky island in the Mojave Desert near Death Valley. It is also found in abundance in the Okanagan area of British Columbia, Canada.

Description

Enceliopsis covillei is a perennial herb with erect stems varying in height from 15 centimeters to over a meter, growing from a tough, woody caudex. The silvery woolly leaves are up to 10 centimeters long by 8 wide and are spade-shaped to oval to diamond-shaped with winged petioles.

The inflorescence is a large solitary flower head on an erect or leaning peduncle which may reach a meter tall. The flower head has a base made up of three layers of pointed phyllaries coated in gray or silvery hairs. The head has a fringe of many yellow ray florets each up to 5 centimeters long.

The fruit is an achene about a centimeter long with a small pappus.

The plant is featured in the logo of the California Native Plant Society, an organization formed in 1965.

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