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Arnica
mollis (Arnica) Subalpine, alpine.
Woodland openings and meadows. Summer. Arnica mollis tends to grow in small, tight, upright clumps; its leaves are usually sessile and far narrower than those of Arnica cordifolia; its stems are hairy and sticky; and its flowers orange/yellow. Arnica mollis at first appears to be far less common in the Four Corners area than Arnica cordifolia, but as one explores more trails and mountainsides one finds Arnica mollis in abundance. All Arnicas shown on this web site have lovely lemon-scented flowers. Arnica mollis and Arnica cordifolia were first collected by Thomas Drummond in the Canadian Rockies in the 1820s and they were named by William Hooker in his Flora Boreali-American in 1834. (More biographical information.) "Mollis" is Latin for "soft". The word "Arnica" means "lamb's skin," and probably refers to the downy soft leaves. |
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Arnica
mollis (Arnica) Subalpine, alpine.
Woodland openings and meadows. Summer. Arnica mollis often spreads itself in dense colonies at high altitudes. |
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Arnica
mollis (Arnica) Subalpine, alpine.
Woodland openings and meadows. Summer. |
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Arnica
mollis (Arnica) Subalpine, alpine.
Woodland openings and meadows. Summer. When one opens the flowers of the Asteraceae Family one finds the "pappus": silky or bristly appendages at the top of the forming sunflower seeds. The pappus of Arnica mollis is tawny and quite feather-like, that of Arnica cordifolia silvery-white and relatively unbranched. Pappus hairs are what we all love about Dandelions -- they are the silvery plumes that we blow on to disperse the seeds.
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Range map © John Kartesz,
County Color Key
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Range map for Arnica mollis |
Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state
Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Eradicated
Questionable presence