Gray hawksbeard is a one or two-stemmed perennial from a taproot, arising from 20-70 cm in height. Its herbage is varied, often being densely gray-haired (like thin felt) to sparsely gray haired. The basal and stem leaves vary from 10-40 cm long, and are pinnatifid with many entire to toothed lobes.
The inflorescence contains from 10-60 flower heads, with each head having 7-12 ray flowers. The involucre is 10-16 mm tall, sometimes smooth but more commonly gray haired. The outer bracts (barely seen at the base of the involucre in the photo above) are very short in contrast to the long inner bracts (which normally number from 7-8).
Gray hawksbeard is a plant of dry, open places in the foothills and plains.
Gray Hawksbeard is found east of the Cascade Mts. from central Washington south to California and eastward to Colorado, Wyoming and then north to Alberta.
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Close-up images of the flower heads of gray hawksbeard as seen from open prairie slopes along the middle section of the Klickitat River drainage...........May 31, 2009.
