Stemless actinea is a relatively small, hairy, bitter, aromatic perennial, 

 without true stems. This species has not acquired a well-established common 

 name but is known by a great variety of (and often misapplied) local names, 

 such as cloth-of-gold, golden-daisy, golden-head Indian-tobacco, ironweed, ray- 

 flower, rosinweed, and yellow-aster. The specific name acaulis is from the 

 Greek prefix a-, signifying "not'\ and kaulos, stem, hence stemless actinea is 

 suggested as an appropriate common name for the species despite that several 

 others in this genus lack true stems. Stemless actinea is distributed from 

 North Dakota to Idaho and south to southeastern California and Texas. It 

 is found chiefly on dry soils and usually extends in grass and brush types 

 from the plains to above timberline. This weed is abundant in South Dakota 

 but elsewhere is largely scattered. 



Stemless actinea is selected for special discussion in this handbook chiefly 

 because of its commonness and wide distribution in the range country and 

 because it is typical of one of the two larger groups into which the genus 

 Actinea is divided. Opinions differ about the palatability of this species. 

 Some observers report that it is fairly palatable to both sheep and cattle, yet 

 others claim that it has a low to zero palatability for all classes of livestock. 

 Its true palatability probably lies between these two extremes, with a tendency 

 toward the lower value, as the disagreeably bitter flavor of stemless actinea's 

 herbage is not conducive to high palatability. On the whole, this weed rates 

 as a poor forage species both because of low palatability and limited herbage 

 production. The flower heads of its relative, flneleaf actinea (A. linearifolia, 

 syn. Tetraneuris linearifolia) , known in the Southwest as tallowweed, are 

 reputed by many Texas sheepmen to produce a good, hard fat on lambs. 



The taproots of stemless actinea generally divide and produce several root 

 crowns, each bearing a number of linear to reverse-lance-shaped, rather blunt, 

 appressed-hairy leaves and a single flower stalk. The flowers are yellow with 

 the ray flowers rather broad, three-toothed, and showing orange veins. Stem- 

 less actinea is a variable species with numerous, closely related, and more or 

 less intergrading varieties or forms. Thus stemless actinea (A. acaulis), Ari- 

 zona actinea (A. acaulis arfeonica, syn. Tetraneuris arisonica), woolly actinea 

 (A. acaulis laniffera, syns. ActineUa Janata Nutt., 1841, not A. lanata Pursh, 

 1814, Tetraneuris lanata, T. laniyera), northern actinea (A. acaulis septentri- 

 onalis, gyn. Tetraneuris septentrionalis), and sagebrush actinea (A. avaulis 

 simplex, syns. Actinella epunctata, A. simplex, Tetraneuris epunctata, T. sim- 

 plex) are all very similar, differing mainly in the width and hairiness of the 

 leaves, the height of the flower stalks, and the shape of the involucral bracts 

 and scales (pappus) of the fruits ("seeds"). Extremely hairy leaves indicate 

 that the plant belongs either to the species acaulis or is one of the varieties 

 lanigera or septentrionalis. The leaf shapes of these three intergrade, typical 

 forms of the species having the narrowest leaves and the variety septentrionalis 

 the widest, but the leaf shapes vary, and different forms of the varieties lani- 

 yera and septentrionalis may have leaves shaped identically like those of the 

 typical form of the species. However, if the hairs are appressed, it is the 

 typical form of acaulis; if spreading and woolly, the variety lanigera; and, if 

 velvety, the variety septentrionalis. The leaves of the varieties arisonica and 

 simplex are nearly hairless and are similar in shape, but the ray flowers of 

 simplex have orange veins, in contrast to the lack of such coloration in ari- 

 zonica. The varieties, with the exception of northern actinea, which extends 

 into Canada, have a more or less restricted occurrence within the range of 

 the species. They are probably similar in palatability, and in certain places 

 are more abundant than the typical form of the species. 



