Eriophyllum lanatum

Eriophyllum lanatum, with the common names common woolly sunflower, Oregon sunshine and golden yarrow,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref> is a common, widespread, North American plant in the family Asteraceae.<ref name=calflora>University of California, Calflora taxon report: Eriophyllum lanatum (Pursh) James Forbes</ref><ref name=SNW>Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd Ed. 2013, p. 116</ref><ref name=tropicos/>

Description

Eriophyllum lanatum is a perennial herb growing from Template:Convert in height, in well-branched clumps. Both the stems and leaves may be covered with a woolly gray hair, but some plants lack this. The leaves are Template:Convert long,<ref name=":1" /> linear on the upper stems, and slender and pinnately lobed on the lower stems.<ref name="tropicos" /> The hairs conserve water by reflecting heat and reducing air movement across the leaf's surface.<ref name="tropicos" /><ref name=":1" />

The flowers are yellow and composite, looking much like true sunflowers, and sometimes grow to about Template:Convert wide.<ref name=":1" /> Both the (8–12) ray and disk flowers are yellow,<ref name=":1" /> with one flower head on each flowering stalk.<ref name="tropicos" /><ref name="nuevoleon">Flora of North America, Eriophyllum lanatum (Pursh) J. Forbes, 1833. Common woolly sunflower </ref> The flower heads have 6–14 rays, which are darker towards the base, and several disk flowers.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> They bloom from May to August.<ref name="calflora" /><ref name="SNW" /> The seeds have scales at the tip.<ref name=":1" />

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Taxonomy

The Lewis and Clark Expedition reportedly saw this plant growing above their camp on the Clearwater River (near present-day Kamiah, Idaho), and collected two specimens on 6 June 1806.Template:Citation needed Botanist Frederick Traugott Pursh studied the plants collected on the expedition; his first classification and naming of the species, as Actinella lanata, was published in 1813.<ref>Pursh, Frederick Traugott (1813). A Systematic Arrangement and Description of The Plants of North America.</ref>

The common name "woolly sunflower" is often used to describe any member of the genus Eriophyllum.

Varieties

Varieties include:<ref name="tropicos" /><ref name="calflora" /><ref name="nuevoleon" />

• Eriophyllum lanatum var. achillioides (DC.) Jeps. — California, Nevada, Oregon.<ref>Calflora: Eriophyllum lanatum var. achilleoides</ref>
• Eriophyllum lanatum var. arachnoideum (Fisch. & Avé-Lall.) Jeps. — Spiderweb sunflower; endemic to the California Coast Ranges from Del Norte County to Monterey County in California.<ref>Calflora: Eriophyllum lanatum var. arachnoideum</ref>
• Eriophyllum lanatum var. croceum (Greene) Jeps. — Sierra woolly sunflower; endemic to the Sierra Nevada in California.<ref>Calflora: Eriophyllum lanatum var. croceum</ref>
• Eriophyllum lanatum var. grandiflorum (A.Gray) Jeps. — Large flowered woolly sunflower; northern California, Oregon.<ref>Calflora: Eriophyllum lanatum var. grandiflorum</ref>
• Eriophyllum lanatum var. hallii Constance — Fort Tejon woolly sunflower, Hall's woolly sunflower; endemic to the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, and Sierra Madre Mountains in Santa Barbara County, in southern California.<ref>Calflora: Eriophyllum lanatum var. hallii</ref>
• Eriophyllum lanatum var. integrifolium (Hook.) Smiley — Oregon sunshine; California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.<ref>Calflora: Eriophyllum lanatum var. integrifolium</ref>
• Eriophyllum lanatum var. lanatum — Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington.
• Eriophyllum lanatum var. lanceolatum (Howell) Jeps. — endemic to the Klamath Mountains, in NW California and SW Oregon.<ref>Calflora: Eriophyllum lanatum var. lanceolatum</ref>
• Eriophyllum lanatum var. leucophyllum (DC.) W.R.Carter — British Columbia, Oregon, Washington.
• Eriophyllum lanatum var. obovatum (Greene) H.M.Hall — Southern Sierra woolly sunflower; endemic to the western Sierra Nevada and the San Bernardino Mountains in California.<ref>Calflora: Eriophyllum lanatum var. obovatum</ref>

Distribution and habitat

Eriophyllum lanatum is native to western North America. It is most common across California,<ref name="calflora" /> also growing north through Oregon into British Columbia and east through Idaho into Wyoming, and through Nevada into Utah.<ref name="calflora" /><ref>Biota of North America Program 2014 county distribution map</ref> This species has only been collected from Mexico once, on Guadalupe Island, and it is most likely extirpated there.<ref name="rebman">Template:Cite journal</ref>

It can be found (for instance in California) in chaparral, oak woodland, mixed evergreen forest, and yellow pine forest and other conifer forests, grassland, and sagebrush scrub habitats.<ref name="calflora" /> It commonly grows in dry, open places<ref name=":1" /> below Template:Convert in elevation. It prefers full sun and well-drained soil, but it also grows on rocky slopes and bluffs.<ref name=":0" />

Further reading

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Calflora Database: Eriophyllum lanatum (Common woolly sunflower, Wooly sunflower)
• Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of Eriophyllum lanatum
• USDA Plants Profile for Eriophyllum lanatum (common woolly sunflower)
• U.C. Calphotos gallery: Eriophyllum lanatum images
• Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest: Eriophyllum lanatum — photos, description, Northwest distribution map.
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas: Eriophyllum lanatum