The first species shown below, Wyethia arizonica is quite hairy and its leaves are usually on long petioles.  According to Weber, this species hybridized with Wyethia amplexicaulis, a species not now found in the Four Corners area, but found here during the Pleistocene.  This cross produced the stable hybrid, Wyethia x magna, still a common species of the Four Corners area.  It has characteristics of both plants and usually has smooth, hairless leaves that clasp the stem.

    Nathaniel Wyeth was an 18th century eastern merchant who mounted several Western financial and exploratory expeditions; the second included botanist Thomas Nuttall and ornithologist John Kirk Townsend.  Nuttall named this genus in 1834 from two species, Wyethia helianthoides and Wyethia amplexicaulis, collected by Wyeth in 1833 on the first expedition. (More biographical information.)

Montane. Meadows, openings. Spring, summer.
Echo Basin Road, June 19, 2007.

High above the Montezuma Valley of Southwest Colorado, thousands of Wyethia cover a meadow.  Mesa Verde National Park is the mesa in the back left, and the Sleeping Ute Mountain on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation is in the back center.

Montane. Meadows, openings. Spring, summer.
Near Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 19, 2007.

Wyethia arizonica has very hairy stems and leaves.  It grows from eight to thirty-six inches tall and sports very bright, very large flowers for a number of weeks.  Petioles of basal leaves are often nearly as long as the leaf blades, but those of the upper stem leaves can be quite short.  Wyethia arizonica can form very extensive colonies of hundreds of plants on open, sunny hillsides or it can be, as here pictured, scattered in Aspen and Ponderosa woods.

Wyethia arizonica commonly hybridizes with Wyethia amplexicaulis and the resulting hybrid, possessing characteristics of both parents, is very common in Southwest Colorado. (See below.)

Asa Gray named this plant from a specimen collected by Palmer in Arizona in 1869.

Montane. Meadows, openings. Spring, summer.
Near Narraguinnep Natural Area, May 19, 2007.

Montane. Meadows, openings. Spring, summer.
Stoner Mesa Trail, June 23, 2005.

Mule’s Ears are abundant and conspicuous, sometimes growing in colonies covering acres. Mule’s Ears prefer meadows but are also found in forest openings. The long, narrow leaves provide the common name.

The hybridization (the "cross" or "x" ) of W. amplexicaulis and W. arizonica produces W. x magna. All three species are very similar in appearance but W. arizonica has very hairy leaves and stems, W. amplexicaulis is smooth, and W. x magna can be either.

Montane. Meadows, openings. Spring, summer.
Stoner Mesa Trail, June 23, 2005.