Vasey’s rabbitbrush

Bigelowia vaseyi A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 12: 58. 1876

Shrubs, 10–30 cm; caudices woody, very branched, bark tan to dark gray, fibrous with age. Stems ascending, green becoming tan, glabrous or puberulent, resin-dotted to resinous. Leaves ascending to spreading; sessile; blades with faint midnerves, linear to oblanceolate, 10–40 × 1–2.5 mm, flat or sulcate, usually not twisted, margins eciliate or sparsely puberulent, apices acute to apiculate, faces usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent, usually gland-dotted, resinous. Heads in dense cymiform arrays (to 5 cm wide), sometimes overtopped by distal leaves. Involucres cylindric to obconic, (5–)6–8 × 2–4 mm. Phyllaries 12–18 in 3–4 series, in weak vertical ranks, mostly tan, greenish apically, midnerves evident and ± expanded distally, ovate to elliptic, unequal, 1.5–7 × 1–1.8 mm, chartaceous, weakly keeled, margins scarious, ciliate to lacerate, apices acute to obtuse-rounded, faces glabrous or gland-dotted. Disc florets 5–7; corollas 4.5–6.5 mm, lobes 1.2–1.7 mm; style branches 2.5–3.8 mm, appendages 0.8–1.2 mm. Cypselae reddish brown, cylindric to turbinate, 4–5 mm, 5–10-nerved, faces glabrous; pappi tan (fine), 3.5–5 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering summer–fall. Open woods (oak or ponderosa pine) and dry meadows; 1700–2900 m; Colo., Nev., N.Mex., Utah, Wyo.