Montana Field Guide

Rhizomatous perennials. Stems 100-200 cm tall, erect, slightly hairy. Leaves basal and cauline; mostly opposite; petioles 1–5 cm; blades lanceolate to lance-ovate, 10–25 × 2–8 cm, bases cuneate, margins serrulate to serrate, abaxial faces sparsely hispid, gland-dotted. Heads 3–6. Peduncles 7–14 cm. Involucres hemispheric, 14–18 mm in diameter. Phyllaries 25–35, oblong-lanceolate, 7–12 × 3–3.5 mm (strongly unequal), apices acuminate, abaxial faces usually puberulent, gland-dotted. Paleae (sterile bracts on receptacle) 9–10 mm, entire or 3-toothed (apices reddish). Ray florets 15–20; laminae 25–37 mm. Disc florets 75+; corollas 7–7.5 mm, lobes reddish (at least at tips); anthers dark, appendages dark to yellowish (style branches yellow). Fruit(seldom formed) 4–5 mm, glabrate; pappus of 2 aristate scales 2.5–3.5 mm (adapted from: Schiller, 2006, Fl. North America, Vol. 21).

Flowering in late summer.

Roadsides and fields.

POLLINATORS
The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap: Bombus vagans, Bombus appositus, Bombus centralis, Bombus fervidus, Bombus flavifrons, Bombus huntii, Bombus nevadensis, Bombus rufocinctus, Bombus pensylvanicus, Bombus bimaculatus, Bombus griseocollis, Bombus impatiens, Bombus insularis, and Bombus flavidus (Thorp et al. 1983, Mayer et al. 2000, Colla and Dumesh 2010, Colla et al. 2011, Koch et al. 2012, Williams et al. 2014).