Cacaliopsis
Cacaliopsis is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae, containing the single species Cacaliopsis nardosmia. It is known by the common name silvercrown. It is native to western North America, where it is distributed from southern British Columbia to northern California.
This species is a perennial herb growing from rhizomes with a fibrous root system. It has an erect stem reaching about 90 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves are alternately arranged, and most are near the base of the stem. The blades have lobes subdivided into toothed segments. They are hairy to woolly, especially on the undersides. The blades are up to 35 centimeters long and are borne on petioles up to 30 centimeters long. The flower heads are in arrays or clusters. They contain up to 50 long yellow or orange disc florets and no ray florets. The fruit is a veiny cylindrical cypsela with a long pappus of many barbed, white bristles.
The plant grows in oak and pine forests and meadows, sometimes on serpentine soils.
