Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Spring.
McElmo Canyon, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 27, 2005 and Mike and Mona's Five Springs Farm, May 28, 2011.

Chaetopappa ericoides is tiny, beautifully symmetrical, delicate, and bright.  It spreads from deep roots and can be abundant on hot, semi-desert, rocky slopes, sometimes forming large clusters.  Most often, though, it occurs scattered in small clusters, as in the last photograph on this page.

Ray flower petals commonly curl downward in the evening and straighten by mid-morning.  

Disk flowers number from 12 to 25 and rays from 8-25 so the flower appearance can vary (as shown in the photographs on this page). 

Leaves range from 6-20 millimeters long and 1-2.5 mm wide with very short stiff hairs projecting from the edges and flattened hairs on the surface.  (See the lowest leaves in the third photograph.)  The plant is often glandular (sticky) and grains of sand stick to the plant.

Augustin de Candolle named this genus (in the early 1800s).  This species was first named Inula ericoides by Torrey in 1827 from a specimen collected by Edwin James "on the Canadian [River]" on the Long Expedition of 1819-1820.  (Intermountain Flora quotation.)  The species has since undergone more than a dozen name changes including Leucelene ericoides by Edward Greene in 1896 and Chaetopappa ericoides by Guy Nesom in 1988. 

Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Spring.
McElmo Canyon, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 27, 2005 and Mike and Mona's Five Springs Farm, May 28, 2011.

Note the bristle-like hairs along the margins  --  especially visible in the lower left of the photograph.

Chaetopappa ericoides.  Synonym: Leucelene ericoides.
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Spring.
McElmo Canyon, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 12, 2011.

The photograph at left shows a typical distribution of C. ericoides. Such patches of the dainty white flowers are common from 5,000 to 7,500 feet in April and May.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Chaetopappa ericoides