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Plant Database

Search for native plants by scientific name, common name or family. If you are not sure what you are looking for, try the Combination Search or our Recommended Species lists.

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Luina hypoleuca

Luina hypoleuca Benth.

Littleleaf Silverback, Silvery Luina

Asteraceae (Aster Family)

Synonym(s):

USDA Symbol: LUHY

USDA Native Status: L48 (N), CAN (N)

A leafy plant with several stems in a clump, covered with white wool densest on stems and undersides of leaves, and dull yellowish, rayless flower heads in a branched cluster at each stem tip.

Each leaf has a white underside, as the species name suggests (hypo means "beneath" and leuca means "white"), often contrasting with the upper surface, which may be darker. The plant must have reminded the botanist who named this genus of another, Inula, also white and woolly (Luina is an obvious anagram).

 

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Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial
Habit: Subshrub
Size Notes: Up to about 2 feet tall.
Fruit: Fruit is a cypsela (pl. cypselae). Though technically incorrect, the fruit is often referred to as an achene.

Bloom Information

Bloom Color: White , Yellow
Bloom Time: Jun , Jul , Aug , Sep , Oct

Distribution

USA: CA , OR , WA
Canada: BC
Native Distribution: Central British Columbia south to central California.
Native Habitat: Rocky places and cliffs.

Web Reference

Webref 30 - Calflora (2018) Calflora
Webref 38 - Flora of North America (2019) Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
Webref 23 - Southwest Environmental Information Network (2009) SEINet - Arizona Chapter

Additional resources

USDA: Find Luina hypoleuca in USDA Plants
FNA: Find Luina hypoleuca in the Flora of North America (if available)
Google: Search Google for Luina hypoleuca

Metadata

Record Modified: 2023-03-06
Research By: TWC Staff

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