Microseris nutans, May 26, 2023
Common & scientific name
Nodding microseris, Microseris nutans
Family
Sunflower, Asteraceae
Location
Across road from Difficult, 8,200’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
This short-lived, early-blooming sun lover, composed only of ray flowers, can be distinguished from Taraxacum officinale, Dandelion, by its phyllaries—the bracts, or much-reduced leaves, subtending the flower head of members of the sunflower family. Nodding microseris’s phyllaries cup the flower head tightly, while Dandelion’s curl outward at the tips. Nodding microseris’s phyllaries also distinguish it from its lookalike, Agoseris glauca, the former having tiny black hairs on them.