Cusick's Pincushion

Chaenactis cusickii is known from Malheur County, Oregon, and adjacent Owyhee and Canyon counties, Idaho. Its relationship to other species is obscure.

Plants 3.5–10(–15) cm; proximal indument grayish, sparsely arachnoid, glabrescent. Stems mostly 1–5; branches mainly proximal. Leaves basal (withering) and cauline (not notably smaller or sparser distally), 1–4 cm; largest blades ± oblanceolate, plane, ± succulent, not lobed (margins entire or distally ± crenate). Heads mostly 1–5(–12) per stem. Peduncles 0.5–2.5 cm, glabrescent distally (sparsely arachnoid early; bracts 1–2, leaflike, surpassing heads). Involucres ± hemispheric to campanulate. Phyllaries: longest 6–9(–10) mm (surpassed by florets); outer (uniformly) sparsely arachnoid to glabrescent in fruit, not stipitate-glandular (inner apically brownish-villosulous), apices usually erect, blunt, ± rigid. Florets: corollas (diurnal) white to pinkish, 3–7 mm (± equaling cypselae; anthers exserted); peripheral corollas ± erect, actinomorphic, scarcely enlarged. Cypselae 4–6 mm; pappi of (8–)10–14 scales in 2–3 gradually unequal series, longest scales 1.5–3.5 mm. 2n = 12.

Chaenactis cusickii A. Gray, Syn. Fl. N. Am
ed.2. P: 452. 1886.
A low annual, diffusely branched at the base; stem decumbent, 1 dm. high or less, sparingly
floccose-tomentulose, soon glabrate; leaves rather fleshy, entire, spatulate-linear, 2-3 cm. long;
peduncles short; involucre subtended by a linear leaf, hemispheric, 7-8 mm. high and 10-12
mm. broad; bracts thick, broadly linear, with obscure midrib; corollas 5-6 mm. long, white,
the marginal ones not enlarged; achenes 6 mm. long, hirsute; squamellae of the pappus 10,
about 3 mm. long, linear-oblong, nearly equal, about equaling the corolla-tube.
Type locality: Sandy hills of the Malheur, Oregon. Distribution: Oregon and Idaho.

Chaenactis cusickii is a North American species of flowering plants in the aster family known by the common name Morning brides or Cusick's pincushion. It has been found only in southeastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho.