Alpine. Tundra. Summer.
Near Kennebec Pass, July 13, 2020;
Colorado Trail above Hillside Road, August 4, 2014;
Near Jura Knob, July 19, 2013;
Cinnamon Pass, August 1, 2007;
Woods Lake Trail, July 15, 2010.

This common, tiny Sunflower, found only above tree-line, forms small mounds from three to twelve inches in diameter topped with bright flowers.  Leaves are long, narrow, upright, prominently veined, and ciliate (fringed with fine hairs). The plant is found in alpine meadows and on tundra, often in the meager soils collected around rocks. A quick glance might lead you to identifying this as Heterotheca pumila. One of the great joys of botany is constantly being reminded to look and then look again.

"Tonestus" is a meaningless anagram of "Stenotus", another Sunflower genus. John Torrey and Asa Gray named this species Haplopappus pygmaeus. Aven Nelson, who named the Tonestus genus in 1904, renamed this species Tonestus pygmaeus.