Wyethia arizonica Gray
Family: Asteraceae
Vernacular Name: Arizona mule-ears
Description: Distinguished by the leaves being lanceolate and the cauline leaves
having petioles, plants with usually only one well-developed head
per stem; lvs and stems strongly hirsute. Flowers are not frost
hardy. (3)
Distribution: COLO: SW counties; UTAH; ARIZ: Apache, Navajo,
Coconino, and Gila counties, 7,000-9,500 ft., slopes and canyons,
mostly in pine forests. Colorado, Utah, and Northern New Mexico
and Arizona (2); UTAH: Oak, pinyon-juniper, and ponderosa pine
communities at 1430-2440 m in Grand, Kane, San Juan, Kane, and
Washington counties, Colorado, NM, and AZ (5)
Plants Seen or Cited: [Type location] Bear Springs Palmer
in 1869.
NMSU 056462, 10 May 1987, Rio Arriba Co., Carson NF; NMSU 060740,
27 May 1987, Rio Arriba Co., N. of San Juan River; UTEP 15183, 22 May 1971,
CO, Archuleta Co; UTEP 52543, 23 Jul 1937, AZ, Hannagan Meadow.
Comments: n=19 (5)
Status: NM may have peripheral populations, but this taxon
is widespread in other states.
Important Literature:
1: Martin and Hutchins, 1981
2: Kearney and Peebles, 1951
3: Weber, W. 1987. Colorado Flora: Western Slope. Colorado Associated
University Press.
4: Weber, W.A. 1946. A taxonomic and cytological study of the
genus Wyethia, family Compositae, with notes on the related genus
Balsamorhiza. Amer. Midl. Nat. 35:400-452.
5. Welsh, 1993
Utah Distribution map:
Information Compiled By: Patricia Barlow-Irick, 1998
