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Psathyrotes annua
Also called Mealy Rosettes, Annual Turtleback
Psathyrotes annua is a low, flat-mounding annual in the daisy family, native to desert and scrub of the southwestern US, often on alkali soils. It is a wild desert species rather than a commonly grown garden plant, so care notes are general.
Psathyrotes annua is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names annual psathyrotes, turtleback, or mealy rosettes. It is native to the southwestern United States and as far north as Idaho. It grows in desert and scrub habitat, often in areas with alkali soils among plants such as shadscale. It is a low, flat or mounding plant with spreading, hairy, scaly stems. It is pale green to reddish purple in color with gray-green leaves, its color dull from the coating of fibers on its surface. The irregularly rounded leaf blades are up to 1.6 centimeters long with wavy or toothed edges. The knobby inflorescence arises from the leaf axils. It is lined with hairy gray-green phyllaries with dull points that curve outward. It contains several hairy yellow to reddish disc florets.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Psathyrotes annua by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
