Chaetopappa ericoides

Chaetopappa ericoides, the rose heath, is a low, much-branched subshrub or perennial herb of the Asteraceae, native to dry plains, mesas, and rocky slopes from the western United States into northern Mexico. Plants form rounded cushions 5–20 cm tall, with numerous wiry stems clothed in crowded, needle-like leaves 3–8 mm long, sessile, linear, and stiffly ascending—reminiscent of heath (hence ericoides). The leaves are sparsely strigose and often glandular-punctate. Solitary heads 1–1.5 cm wide terminate the branches; each head has 12–24 white to pale-pink ray florets surrounding 15–30 yellow disc florets, with phyllaries in 3–4 graduated series, lance-attenuate, with scarious margins. Achenes are narrowly oblong, 2–3 mm long, with a pappus of 5 awns alternating with shorter scales. Flowering occurs May–October, often after summer rains.