''Townsendia condensata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

known by the common names cushion Townsend daisy and cushion townsendia. It is native to North America where it is known from many scattered occurrences in the mountains of the western United States and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

in Canada. It is mainly limited to the

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical weather (climate) for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions of ...

s of high mountain peaks, where it grows in meadows,

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless moun ...

, and barren, rocky talus.US Forest Service Fire Ecology
/ref> It grows alongside other alpine plants such as ''

Eriogonum androsaceum ''Eriogonum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Polygonaceae. The genus is found in North America and is known as wild buckwheat. This is a highly species-rich genus, and indications are that active speciation is continuing. It in ...

''. This is a petite biennial or perennial herb taking a clumped form just a few centimeters tall, its herbage growing on a

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is m ...

and taproot unit. The leaves are 1 or 1.5 centimeters long, rounded, and coated in woolly hairs. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is generally a solitary flower head 1 to 3 centimeters wide with rough-haired, lance-shaped phyllaries. The head contains many yellow disc florets and many white, pinkish, or purplish ray florets each measuring up to 16 millimeters in length. The fruit is a hairy

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

tipped with a deciduous pappus of bristles. One variety of this species, var. ''anomala'', the North Fork Easter-daisy, is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Absaroka Mountains of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, mostly in the drainage of the North Fork of the Shoshone River.Marriott, H. and J. C. Lyman
''Townsendia condensata'' var. ''anomala'': A Technical Conservation Assessment.
USDA Forest Service May 9, 2006.

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentFlora of North AmericaPhoto gallery
condensata Alpine flora Flora of the Western United States Flora of California Flora of Colorado Flora of Wyoming Flora of the Rocky Mountains Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Astereae-stub