Annuals or perennials, 3-6 dm. Phyllaries (8-)12-16, mostly oblong to ovate or obovate. Rays 0. Disc florets 15-30; corollas white or pinkish to purplish, 5-6 mm, lobe lengths 2-3+ times throats; anthers pinkish to purplish. Cypselae 4-5 mm; pappus scales 4-6 mm. 2n = 24.

Flowering mostly late summer-fall. Rocky places, often with pinyons and junipers; 900-2300 m; Ariz., Calif., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora).

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Annuals or perennials with stems 30-60 cm tall, hirsute, glandular.

Leaves: Lower leaves to 10 cm long, triternately divided, long petioled, upper leaves biternate, those at the summit usually 2-3 lobed.

Flowers: Discoid heads on peduncles 1 cm or less, involucre campanulate, 7-10 mm, phyllaries 12-16, mostly oblong to ovate or obovate, scarious at apex and on margins; rays absent, 15-30 disc florets, corollas white or pinkish to purplish, 5-6 mm, lobe lengths 2-3 times the throats; anthers pinkish to purplish, deeply 5-parted, the tube glandular.

Fruits: Cypselae 4-5 mm long, appressed pubescent.

Ecology: Found in rocky sites, often in dry sites from 3,000-7,500 ft (914-2286 m); flowers June-November.

Notes: Distinguished from Hymenothrix wislizeni by its white, rayless flowers and perennial habit.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Hymenothrix comes from Greek hymen, meaning membrane and thrix, bristle, while wrightii is named for Charles Wright (1811-1885) an American botanical collector.

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley, 2010