Desert holly, dwarf desertpeony

Perezia nana A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts, n. s. 4: 111. 1849

Plants 2.5–30 cm, (divaricately branching). Leaves cauline; sessile; blades rhombic-orbiculate to suborbiculate, 10–50 mm, bases cuneate, margins coarsely and irregularly prickly-dentate, faces glabrous (reticulate). Heads borne singly (at branch tips). Involucres campanulate, 14–17 mm. Phyllaries in 4 series, broadly ovate, margins glandular, apices acute to mucronate, abaxial faces glabrous. Receptacles reticulate (sockets separated by squarish, apically pubescent paleae 1 mm). Florets 15–24; corollas lavender-pink or white, 10–17 mm. Cypselae subcylindric, 3–7.5 mm, densely stipitate-glandular; pappi white or tawny, 10–15 mm. 2n = 54.

Flowering (Mar–)Apr(–Jun). Gravel, sandstone, silty, or caliche soils in desert scrub; 0–1800 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Zacatecas).

Acourtia nana grows primarily in the trans-Pecos and western Edwards Plateau.