Stems usually puberulent and villous (hairs crinkled, multi-cellular), sometimes glabrate. Petioles 1-5 cm, villous-ciliate. Leaf blades (proximal to mid stem) broadly ovate to cordate, 2-8 × 1.5-6 cm, bases obtuse to truncate or subcordate, margins subentire to dentate, margins villous-ciliolate (sometimes sparsely villous along veins as well), apices obtuse to acute. Heads 1-10+ per principal node, ascending to erect; sessile or on peduncles to 7 mm. Involucres 9-12 mm. Phyllaries glabrous (margins sometimes ciliolate). Corollas 5-6 mm, slightly exceeding pappi, 0.2-0.3 mm diam., apices slightly constricted, lobes 0.15-0.2 mm; anthers included, ca. 0.8 mm; style branches usually short-exserted. Cypselae gray to nearly black, 3.5-5 mm; pappi white, 5-8 mm. 2n = 20.

Flowering Aug-Oct. Oak-juniper woodlands, cypress woodlands, grasslands, riparian areas; 1000-2200 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico.

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Slender annual herb, 30-100 cm tall; stems usually puberulent or villous, often in lines, sometimes glabrate.

Leaves: Usually opposite, the upper leaves sometimes alternate; on 1-5 cm petioles; blades broadly ovate to cordate, 2-8 cm long by 1-6 cm wide, bases obtuse to truncate or subcordate, apices obtuse to acute, and margins subentire to dentate; proximal leaves often withering before flowering.

Flowers: Flower heads discoid, sessile or on peduncles to 7 mm long, erect to ascending in narrow spikelike panicles; involucre (ring of bracts wrapped around the flower head) cylindrical, 9-12 mm high, the bracts (phyllaries) graduated, imbricate, linear-lanceolate, glabrous, and striate, spreading in fruit; flowers 8-12, all discs, the corollas 5-6 mm long, greenish white to cream colored.

Fruits: Achenes slender, 3-5 mm long, gray to nearly black, topped with a pappus of bright white plumose bristles, 5-8 mm long.

Ecology: Found in rich soils, often in canyons but also woodlands, grasslands, and along riparian areas, from 4,000-7,000 ft (1219-2134 m); flowers August-October.

Distribution: s AZ, sw NM, sw TX; south to s MEX.

Notes: Distinct in being a slender, erect annual composite, with short hairs all over, these sometimes becoming long; the leaves, restricted to the lower half of the plant, which are mostly opposite and ovate (egg-shaped) with teeth on the edges; and especially the flower heads, which are very slender, with long, thin phyllaries.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Carminatia is named for Bassiani Carminati (18th century) Italian author, while tenuiflora means with fine or delicate flowers.

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2014, AHazelton 2015