Biolett’s fleabane

Erigeron inornatus (A. Gray) A. Gray var. biolettii (Greene) Jepson

Perennials, 30–90 cm; taprooted, caudices woody, branches ascending, usually basally purplish. Stems ascending-erect, glabrous or sparsely hispid to hispido-pilose, densely glandular. Leaves cauline; blades narrowly oblanceolate, 20–40 × 2–4(–5) mm, generally even-sized, margins entire, faces often sparsely hispid or hispido-pilose, densely glandular. Heads (discoid) (1–)2–15 in loosely corymbiform arrays. Involucres 6–8 × 12–15 mm. Phyllaries in 3–5 series (usually purple apically), glabrous, densely minutely glandular. Ray (pistillate) florets 0. Disc corollas 4.5–6.5 mm (throats slightly indurate, not inflated). Cypselae 2–2.5 mm, 2-nerved, faces glabrous; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 22–38 bristles.

Flowering Jun–Sep. Dry slopes, pine woods, mixed forest, rocks and ledges along rivers; 50–1100 m; Calif.