Townsendia nuttallii Dorn 

 Nuttall's townsendia 



A. DESCRIPTION . ^ . 



1 General description: This is a low-growing daisy 

 (Asteraceae, sunflower family). The flower heads are without 

 a stalk or on a very short one among the basal cluster of 

 long, slender leaves. The ray flowers are white or pmk or 

 purple and have a pappus of short scales, which the disk 

 flowers have a pappus of longer bristles. 



2 Technical species description (quoted from Hartman et al. 

 1991, who cite Clark and Dorn's original 1979 description): 



Pulvinate, perennial herb from a taproot and branched 

 caudex. Leaves basal, crowded, oblanceolate or linear- 

 oblanceolate, 0.5-2 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, entire, densely 

 sericeus-strigose. Heads mostly sessile but some on 

 peduncles up to 1 cm long; involucres 9-12 mm long; 

 phyllaries mostly in three or four series, lanceolate, 

 acute 4-9 mm long, 0.7-2 mm wide, pubescent, the margins 

 erose'and ciliate. Rays ca. 8 mm. long, white to pink or 

 lavendar; disk corollas 4-5 mm long, yellow to reddish- 

 purple. Achenes oblanceolate, flattened, 3-4 mm long, 

 pubescent at first, becoming glabrous when mature except 

 for a few scattered hairs near base, the hairs mostly 

 glochidate; ray pappus about 0.5 mm. long; disk pappus 

 ca. 5-6 mm. long, persistent. 



3 Diagnostic characters: T. nuttallii differs from T. 

 hooker i, to which it keys in Dorn (1984), by its leaves and 

 ray pappus. T. nuttallii has leaves which are broadened 

 towards the tip and a ray pappus of short scales, vs. the 

 nearly linear leaves of T. bookeri and its ray pappus, like 

 the disk pappus, of capillary bristles (Dorn 1992) . 



B. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 



1. Species range: ■•.. .scattered, primarily in the 

 mountainous areas of the western 2.3 of Wyoming; endemic but 

 likely will be found in Utah, Idaho, and/or Montana (Hartman 

 et al 1991).: Vanderhorst found Utah specimens of T. 

 nuttallii identified as T. hookeri at Intermountain Herbarium 

 in Logan, UT . 



2. Montana distribution: The collection of a single plant in 

 the Tendoy Mts. (Vanderhorst $4955) is the first time this 

 species has been reported in the state. Subsequent to 

 identification of the specimen, Lesica checked collections of 

 T hookeri at MONTU and found three additional specimens of T. 

 nuttallii, representing half of the contents of the T. hookeri 

 folder from southwestern Montana. Two are from southern 

 Beaverhead County and one is from Granite County. 



