Slender Townsendia is a low perennial daisy which grows up to about 3 cm high and usually arises from a branched rootstock. Its leaves are green, narrow, linear to lance shaped, 0.6-4 cm long by 1-3 mm wide, and are sparsely covered by straight, stiff, appressed hairs. The flowers are borne in stemless or short-stemmed composite heads. The involucres consist of 4-7 overlapping series of narrow, pointed bracts. The strap-shaped corollas of the ray flowers are white, cream, pink, violet, or blue and are 6-10 mm long and 1-2 mm wide. The disk flowers have shorter, yellow, tubular corollas. Both ray and disk corollas are encircled by a pappus of slender bristles. The achenes are covered with hairs that are barbed at their tips.
Montana has nine
Townsendia species. This species is distinguished from other stemless
Townsendia by its green, only sparsely hairy leaves with narrow, pointed involucre bracts. The following
Townsendia species have stems obscured by leaves and flowers, are perennial, and usually have a woody branched caudex, but can be separated by a combination of these characteristics:
Slender Townsend-daisy –
Townsendia leptotes, Status Under Review
*Leaves:
Sparsely strigose (stiff, straight, sharp,
and appressed hairs). Linear to oblong in shape, and 12-25 mm long.
*Flowers: Heads usually sessile. Involucre is 8-12 mm high. Ray florets have white to pinkish petals.
*Habitat: Rocky ridges and sandy slopes.
Sword Townsendia –
Townsendia spathulata, SOC
*Leaves: Wooly to villous (long, soft, crooked,
and unmatted hairs); Spoon-shaped except in Broadwater County where leaves are nearly linear. 5-10 mm long.
*Flowers: Heads are nearly stemless. Involucre is 6-10 mm high. Involucral bracts are villous and have acute tips except in Broadwater County where they are sparsely strigose. Ray florets have off-white or pinkish petals, 4-10 mm long.
*Habitat: Grows on limestone derived soils from low elevations to alpine.
Cushion Townsend-daisy–
Townsendia condensata, SOC
*Leaves: Villous, spoon-shaped, and 5-20 mm long.
*Flowers: Heads are nearly stemless. Involucre is 10-25 mm high. Ray florets have pink petals that dry to lavender, 6-15 mm long.
*Habitat: Found at and above timberline (subalpine/alpine).
Hooker’s Townsend-daisy –
Townsendia hookeri*Leaves:
Densely strigose. Linear to oblanceolate in shape, 5-30 mm long.
*Flowers: The involucre is 7-12 mm high. Involucral bracts have ciliate margins and
are tipped with a tuft of hairs (cilia). Ray florets have white to pink petals.
*Habitat: Occurs in grasslands, sagebrush steppe, and woodlands at lower elevations.
Silky Townsend-daisy –
Townsendia exscapa*Leaves: Strigose. Linear to oblanceolate in shape, 10-40 mm long.
*Flowers: The involucre is 12-20 mm high. Involucral bracts have ciliate margins and
are not tipped with a tuft of hairs (cilia). Ray florets have white to pink petals.
*Habitat: Occurs in grasslands and sagebrush steppe at lower elevations.
Hoary Townsend-daisy –
Townsendia incana*Leaves: Densely strigose. Linear in shape, 10-20 mm long.
*Flowers: Heads have peduncles of 3-40 mm long that grow from leafy stems of 1-3 cm long. The involucre is 6-9 mm high. Ray florets have pinkish petals.
*Fruits: Achenes are hairy.
*Habitat: Grows on sandy calcareous soil of grasslands, sagebrush steppe, and woodlands at lower elevations.
Wyoming Townsend-daisy –
Townsendia montana*Leaves: Strigose. Leaves are oblong to spatulate in shape, 10-30 mm long.
*Flowers: Heads have peduncles of 3-40 mm long that grow from leafy stems of about 1 cm long. Involucre is 6-11 mm high. Ray florets have blue petals.
*Fruits: Achenes typically lack hairs (glabrous).
*Habitat: Grows on stony, usually calcareous soils of fellfields and meadows in the alpine-subalpine zone.
Open, rocky or gravelly slopes in the alpine zone.
