White Mule Ears

by Robert Bales

Title

White Mule Ears

Artist

Robert Bales

Medium

Photograph - Photo

Description

While driving around the foothills of the Emmett Valley located in the state of Idaho I found these beautiful flowers.

This beautiful member of the sunflower family is notable for its large, white radiate flowers. White Mules-ears was discovered in Idaho 1833 by the noted explorer, Nathaniel Wyeth. Its species name helianthoides means sunflower-like and the common name mules-ears, refers to its large leaves. Mules-ears are fairly large, stout plants that arise from a woody taproot with 1-several stems per plant. The showy flowers can be 2.5-4.5 centimeters in size.

In springtime, White Mules-ears are often seen in great profusion along moist meadows and foothills at moderate elevations (up to 2600 meters) in Idaho, eastern Oregon, northern Nevada, and western Montana.

You will sometimes find a field of White Mules-ears mixed in with other yellow-flowered members of the genus such as Wyethia amplexicaulis. These two species often hybridize. The parents are either pure white or bright yellow in color. The hybrid plants can be recognized by their pale yellow flowers.

Wyethias can also be confused with another closely-related genus, Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza). The two genera are distinguished by the presence of cauline (stem) leaves in Wyethia and exclusively basal leaves in Balsamorhiza. Both of these genera have been used as food and medicine by native peoples.
From USDA

Uploaded

June 20th, 2016

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