Whitestem Paperflower
Psilostrophe cooperi

Family: Asteraceae

Perennial plants growing to about 2x2’. Yellow flowers can appear almost any time of year but are most prevalent spring and summer. The flowers dry and persist, lending the name “paperflower”. Flowers are nectar rich.

Full sun, moderate water, hardy to -10°F. Cut back spent growth to encourage new, fresh growth and blooms.

The flowers are visited by numerous pollinators and seeds are consumed by granivorous birds and mammals.

There are 8 species Psilostrophe native to North America. The genus “Psilostrophe” (Psilostro'phe:) from the Greek words ‘psilos,’ meaning “naked, glabrous” and ‘trophos’, meaning nourishment or nurse, alluding to the naked, epaleate (the "nurse"); a technical botanic reference to the receptacle lacking palea. The species epithet “Cooperi” (coo'peri:) is in honor of Dr. James Graham Cooper, (1830-1902).

Photo by lonnyholmes on iNaturalist
Psilostrophe cooperi on SEINET

Found along washes, on gravelly slopes and rocky hillsides from 2,000-5,000 ft. in southern Utah, southern Nevada, southern California, Arizona, western New Mexico; south to northwestern Mexico.

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Desert Unicorn-Plant (Proboscidea althaeifolia)

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Woolly Paperflower (Psilostrophe tagetina)