General: Whitestem Paperflower (Psilostrophe cooperi) is a small, upright shrub with fairly large leaves and solitary yellow flowerheads (single composite flower) atop stalks that stand above the leaves. The flowers are composites, but appear as 6-petaled, yellow flower that dries to a papery-tan color. The dried flowers tend to stay on the plant into the winter.

Paperflower generally is an uncommon component of vegetation communities, although it can be locally abundant on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils along washes and on upper bajadas and moderate slopes into the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) life zone.

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae).

Other Names: Paper flower, paper-flower.

Plant Form: Small, upright shrub.

Height: About shin-high (1 to 2 feet).

Bark: Densely hairy, white.

Stems: Several upright, spreading stems.

Leaves: Linear, entire, 1/2 to 3 inches, white hairy

Flowers: Blooms late spring and then again as late as late November if conditions are right. Inflorescence: solitary yellow flowerheads (single composite flower) atop stalks that stand above the leaves. Flowers: usually 6 ray flowers giving the appearance of a 6-petaled flower; "petals" with two notches forming three lobes. About 10-15 disk flowers forming a small center. Phyllaries long, single-ranked, and fuzzy.

Seeds:

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils along washes and on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: 500 to 5,000 feet.

Distribution: California to Utah and Arizona, south into northern Mexico.

Comments: The flowers are unusual in that they dry on the plant and tend to persist into the winter.