Northwestern rabbit-tobacco

Gnaphalium thermale E. E. Nelson, Bot. Gaz. 30: 121. 1900; G. canescens de Candolle subsp. thermale (E. E. Nelson) Stebbins & D. J. Keil; G. johnstonii G. N. Jones; G. microcephalum Nuttall var. thermale (E. E. Nelson) Cronquist; G. microcephalum subsp. thermale (E. E. Nelson) G. W. Douglas; Pseudognaphalium canescens (de Candolle) Anderberg subsp. thermale (E. E. Nelson) Kartesz; P. microcephalum (Nuttall) Anderberg var. thermale (E. E. Nelson) Dorn

Perennials, (20–)30–70 cm; taprooted. Stems loosely tomentose, not glandular. Leaf blades narrowly oblanceolate, 3–8 cm × 3–6 mm (gradually smaller distally, becoming linear), bases not clasping, decurrent 5–14 mm, margins flat, faces concolor, loosely tomentose, sessile-glandular beneath tomentum. Heads in loose to dense, corymbiform to paniculiform arrays. Involucres turbinate-campanulate, (4–)5–6 mm. Phyllaries in 3–4(–5) series, whitish (hyaline or opaque, usually shiny, sometimes dull), ovate to ovate-oblong (outer broadly acute, inner rounded-apiculate), glabrous. Pistillate florets 35–55. Bisexual florets (2–)4–7. Cypselae ridged, densely papillate-roughened.

Flowering Jun–Sep(–Oct). Dry, sandy road banks, roadside ditches, streambeds and banks, lakeshores, granitic sand, open woods of yellow pine, Jeffrey pine, red fir, Douglas fir, mixed conifer, and mixed evergreen; (50–)300–2300(–2500) m; Alta., B.C.; Calif., Idaho, Mont., Nev., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.