Distribution: Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.
Habitat: Dried beds of vernal pools.
Flowers: May-July
Origin: Native
Growth Duration: Annual
Conservation Status: Not of concern
Pollination: Bees, flies, beetles, wasps
Small, woolly, monoecious annuals, usually prostrate and branching, the stems up to 10 cm. long.
Leaves opposite, mostly lance-oblong to lance-linear, 5-25 mm. long and 2-5 mm. wide, usually well-surpassing the heads.
: Pistillate flowers 8-80 in each head, the corolla filiform-tubular, each enclosed by a saccate, woolly bract about 3 mm. long attached to the receptacle; receptacle lobed, each lobe bearing a cluster of as few staminate flowers; involucre none, but the heads subtended by several foliage leaves; pappus none; style off-set.
Achenes obliquely lanceolate, flattened, 1.0-1.9 mm. long.
Publication: Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc., n. s. 7: 340. 1840.
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var. brevissimus – dwarf woollyheads
Occurring east of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to the northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.
PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Psilocarphus brevissimus in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database
WA Flora Checklist: Psilocarphus brevissimus checklist entry
OregonFlora: Psilocarphus brevissimus information
E-Flora BC: Psilocarphus brevissimus atlas page
CalPhotos: Psilocarphus brevissimus photos
