Slender fleabane

Erigeron caespitosus Nuttall var. tenerus A. Gray in W. H. Brewer et al., Bot. California 1: 328. 1876 (as caespitosum var. tenerum)

Perennials, 2–15(–20) cm; taprooted, caudex branches commonly relatively slender, lignescent. Stems erect, sparsely strigillose (hairs white, stiff), sometimes minutely glandular. Leaves mostly basal (persistent); (gray-green) blades 1-nerved spatulate, rhombic-elliptic to narrowly elliptic-ovate, (10–)15–80 × 2–7 mm, margins entire (apices sharply acute), faces moderately to densely strigillose (hairs white, stiff), eglandular. Heads 1(–3). Involucres 3–5 × 6–12 mm. Phyllaries in 2–3 series, sparsely to moderately hirsute, densely minutely glandular. Ray florets (15–)20–40; corollas blue to purple, 4–8 mm, laminae not coiling or reflexing. Disc corollas 2.5–4.1 mm. Cypselae 1.6–2.5 mm, 2-nerved, faces sparsely strigose; pappi: outer of setae, inner of 15–25(–30) bristles. 2n = 18.

Flowering Jun–Sep. Rocky or gravelly habitats, often in talus, cliff ledges, crevices, or along ridgetops, in Atriplex, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, yellow pine, bristlecone pine, limber pine, or spruce; 1700–3200(–3400) m; Ariz., Calif., Idaho, Mont., Nev., Oreg., Utah, Wyo.