LESSINGIA.
Lessingia leptoclada, Gray. Composite Family.
Finely white-woolly. Stems.—From a few inches to two feet high, with numerous, almost filiform branchlets, bearing few or solitary heads of pink or white flowers. Lower leaves.—Spatulate; sparingly toothed; withering early. Upper leaves.—Lanceolate, or linear and entire; sessile; uppermost diminished into remote, subulate bracts. Heads.—Five- to twenty-flowered. Of tubular disk-flowers only. Outer flowers much larger. Involucre.—Silky hairy; broadly campanulate; with imbricated, appressed bracts. Hab.—Widespread.
In late summer the pink Lessingia is apparent along dry roadsides or embankments, where its blossoms make charming masses of soft color. It is quite abundant in the Yosemite, especially in the lower end of the valley.
L. Germanorum, Cham., found plentifully from San Diego to San Francisco, has yellow flowers.