Microseris lindleyi

Microseris lindleyi, sometimes called Lindley's silverpuffs or Lindley's microseris, is a small annual herb in the Asteraceae family, native to western North America, particularly California, Oregon and adjacent regions, where it grows in grasslands, open hillsides and disturbed soils below middle elevations. The plant is delicate and slender, typically 5 to 30 centimetres tall, arising from a thin taproot. The basal leaves form a loose rosette and are linear to narrowly lanceolate, 3 to 15 centimetres long, with entire or sparsely toothed to pinnatifid margins, glabrous to slightly hairy. A single, leafless, erect scape bears one terminal flower head that nods in bud and becomes erect at anthesis. Heads are about 1 to 2 centimetres across with bright yellow ligulate florets only, surrounded by a single series of narrow, herbaceous phyllaries. Flowering occurs in spring. The fruits are slender, ribbed achenes crowned with a pappus of silvery, plumose bristles forming a conspicuous parachute-like head.