Old Plainsman

Old Plainsman, Chalk-Hill Woollywhite

Hymenopappus tenuifolius Pursh.

Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

▲ ▼ mature flowering plants

▲ first-year rosette stage

▲ beginning elongation of stem for flowering

▲ ▼ stems with woolly-white hairs

▲ ▼ inflorescences

Hymenopappus tenuifolius Pursh; Old Plainsman, Chalk-Hill Woollywhite: (Bayer Code: not known; US Code HYTE2)

U.S. native biennial wildflower that grows 1.5-3 feet tall, producing usually single, unbranched (except in upper portions when flowering commences), ridged and with short white hairs on lower stem
First forms a rosette of alternate leaves, oval to triangular in outline, with petioles, bipinnately lobed, gray-green due to many short white hairs, particularly on leave undersides; flowering stem leaves are smaller and less lobed
Head inflorescences are clusters in tips of upper stem branches; individual heads are about 0.25 inches in diameter and have no ray flowers but 25-50 yellow disk flowers
Bracts below the inflorescence form a bell-shaped structure and are greenish-white to pale yellow-green, oval , with round-pointed tips and hair-covered
Flowering is from late spring through late summer
Found in dry prairies, pastures, right-of-ways, chalk hills; prefers sandy, rocky soils
Somewhat similar in appearance to Umbrella Plant (Eriogonum annuum), but umbrella plant has simple leaves, not deeply lobed as on old plainsman

(Updated November 27, 2022)