''Wyethia mollis'' 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 name woolly mule's ears. The plant is hairy to woolly in texture, sometimes losing its hairs with age. ''Wyethia mollis'' is a coarse

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herbWeeden, N. F. ''A Sierra Nevada Flora''. 4th Ed. Wilderness Press. 1996. native to the mountains of northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, especially on the east side of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

, and southeastern

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and western

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. It grows in forests and other mountain habitat such as dry open meadows with sagebrush. It grows from a tough taproot and

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 ...

unit, producing a stem 30 to 40 centimeters tall, and reaching a meter in height at times. It thrives in volcanic soils because of its deep roots.Blackwell, L. R. ''Wildflowers of the Sierra Nevada''. Lone Pine Publishing. 1999. The leaves 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 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 a solitary flower head 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 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 ...

about a centimeter long, not counting its pappus. The seeds are edible and taste similar to sunflower seeds.

Gallery

Mule ears Wyethia mollis huge fuzzy leaf.jpg, Leaf Wyethia mollis.jpg, Head Mule ears Wyethia mollis hillside.jpg, In habitat

References

mollis Mollis is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Mollis is part of the municipality of Glarus Nord. History Mollis is first mentioned in 1288. Geography Mollis has an area, , of . Of this ...

Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of Nevada

Gallery

References

External links