Baby or dwarf goldenrod

Aster nanus (Nuttall) Kuntze; Solidago nivea Rydberg

Plants 10-50 cm; rhizomes stout or caudices branching. Stems 1–6, decumbent to ascending, finely and densely puberulent. Leaves: basal present at flowering; basal and proximal petiolate, blades oblanceolate to narrowly obovate or spatulate, 20–100 × 5–20 mm, basal much smaller than proximal, margins serrate or entire, somewhat 3-nerved, apices obtuse to acute, cuspidate, faces moderately to densely finely puberulent; mid and distal cauline sessile, blades oblanceolate to elliptic to base, 1 prominent nerve, 10–30 × 4–12 mm, greatly reduced distally, attenuate, margins entire or distally serrate, apices acute, faces densely finely puberulent. Heads 30–100, in broadly corymbiform (modified paniculiform) arrays, sometimes somewhat secund. Peduncles 2–7 mm, moderately puberulent; bracteoles 0–2, elliptic, minute. Involucres campanulate, 4–6 mm. Phyllaries in 3–4 series, oblong, strongly unequal, margins ciliate, apices blunt, glabrous. Ray florets (5–)6–10 (fewer than number of disc florets); laminae ca. 3 × 1.3–1.6 mm. Disc florets 8–20; corollas 4–4.5 mm, lobes 0.8–1.1 mm. Cypselae (narrowly obconic) 2–2.8 mm, sparsely strigose; pappi 3.5–4 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering Aug–Sep. Dry to wet soils, often alkaline meadows and flats, open wooded slopes; 1700–2700 m; Ariz., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nev., N.Mex., Utah.