Smooth Mojave woody-aster

Machaeranthera tortifolia (Torrey & A. Gray) Cronquist & D. D. Keck var. imberbis Cronquist, Leafl. W. Bot. 10: 12. 1963

Stems, leaves, and involucres glabrous, stipitate-glandular. Leaf margins sparsely piloso-villous to puberulent. 2n = 12.

Flowering Apr–May(–Jun). Sandy or gravelly slopes and flats, in pinyon-juniper, sagebrush, and blackbrush zones; 600–1900 m; Ariz., Nev., Utah.

The geographic distribution of var. imberbis usually follows the canyons of the Colorado River of Utah and adjacent Arizona at least to Toroweap Point; it also occurs in Clark and Nye counties, Nevada, where it intergrades with var. tortifolia (A. Cronquist 1994).