Stemless tetraneuris

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Stemless tetraneuris leaf

Stemless tetraneuris

Stemless tetraneuris

Stemless tetraneuris involucral bracts

Stemless tetraneuris

Stemless tetraneuris

Stemless tetraneuris habit

Stemless tetraneuris disk florets

Stemless tetraneuris

Stemless tetraneuris leaves

Stemless tetraneuris disk florets

Stemless tetraneuris

Stemless tetraneuris caudex

Morphology

Stem

Stemless; flowering stalk leafless, silky.

Leaves

All basal, spatulate, .6 to 3.2 inches long, .1 to .33 inches wide, densely silky-hairy, sparsely to moderately gland-dotted; margins entire.

Inflorescence

Heads, solitary, terminal on flowering stalks; our populations only rarely with ray florets.

Flower

Involucre 1/5 to 1/3 inch tall, 1/2 to 3/4 inch across, receptacle hemispheric or conical; involucral bracts erect, thin, separate, silky, 1/6 to 1/4 inch long; outer bracts 6-10; ray florets (when present) 8-14, 1/5 to 1/3 inch long, yellow, turned downward at maturity; disk florets many, fertile, yellow.

Fruit

Achene, top-shaped, weakly angled, coarsely hairy, tipped with 5-7 translucent scales to 1/8 inch long; enclosing small seed.

Ecology

Habitat

Dry, rocky hillsides, limestone bluffs, roadsides; calcareous soils.

Distribution

West 1/2 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans in the Southwest used a related species to make a stimulant drink or applied a poultice of the plant to hip and back aches.

Additional Notes

Synonyms

Alternative scientific names that have been used for this plant.