Nakedstem Hawksbeard

Crepis pleurocarpa is distinguished by its narrow, acuminate, silvery leaves, 5(–10), strongly keeled phyllaries with conspicuous white, tomentose margins, strongly ribbed cypselae, and relatively few florets per head. Otherwise, it is very similar to C. acuminata and C. intermedia.

Perennials, 15–60 cm (taproots slender, caudices swollen). Stems 1–3, slender or stout, branched proximally (sparingly) or distally, glabrate to tomentulose. Leaves basal and cauline; petiolate (petioles relatively broadly winged); blades elliptic or oblanceolate, often runcinate, 7–28 × 0.5–7 cm, margins pinnately lobed to dentate (lobes remote, lanceolate to narrowly triangular, often recurved), apices attenuate, faces usually tomentulose to glabrate, sometimes glandular. Heads 7–10(–30), in corymbiform arrays. Calyculi of 5–6, deltate to lanceolate, tomentulose bractlets 1.5–4 mm. Involucres cylindro-campanulate, 8–16 × 3–5 mm. Phyllaries 5(–10), (deep green or black) lanceolate, 10–16 mm, (bases becoming strongly keeled and swollen, often glabrous, margins yellowish, conspicuously and densely tomentulose), apices acute to strongly acuminate, abaxial faces densely tomentulose adaxial with fine hairs. Florets 5–10(–12); corollas yellow, 15–20 mm. Cypselae deep reddish brown, subcylindric, 5–8 mm, apices constricted, ribs 10 (prominent); pappi yellowish white, 6–12 mm (bristles unequal). 2n = 22, 33, 44, 55, 77, 88.

Crepis acuminata Nuttall var. pleurocarpa (A. Gray) Jepson; C. intermedia A. Gray var. pleurocarpa (A. Gray) A. Gray

Crepis pleurocarpa is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name nakedstem hawksbeard. It is native to the western United States (Washington, Oregon, northern California and western Nevada.

Crepis pleurocarpa grows in dry, wooded or open habitat, sometimes on serpentine soils. It is a taprooted perennial herb producing a branching stem up to 60 centimeters (24 inches) in height. The mostly lance-shaped leaves are lobed and long near the base of the plant, approaching 30 centimeters (12 inches) in length, and smaller and sometimes unlobed farther up the stem. The inflorescence is an open array of many flower heads, each with pointed phyllaries with thick midribs and thinner, hair-lined edges. Each flower head has 5 to 8 golden yellow ray florets but no disc florets. The fruit is a narrow, ribbed achene with a whitish pappus.