Common woolly sunflower, widely known as Oregon sunshine, forms loose clumps of gray-white stems and leaves topped with golden daisies. Each flower head has a golden center ringed by about 8 to 13 yellow rays. Its genus name comes from Greek words for wool and leaf, and the species name means covered in long woolly hair.
That wool is a survival tool. The dense white hairs reflect heat and slow the air moving across the leaves, which helps the plant hold on to water in hot, dry places. The flowers feed a crowd of insects, including bees, syrphid flies, beetles, moths and butterflies such as red admirals and skippers. A plant cannot fertilize itself, so it depends on these visitors to set seed. In Oregon it is an important nectar plant for the endangered Fender’s blue butterfly.
Lewis and Clark collected the first specimen for science along Idaho’s Clearwater River in June 1806. On Mt. Hood, look for it in dry, open and rocky places such as road edges, rock outcrops and sunny slopes, from the lower forest up to the subalpine zone. It blooms from late spring through summer.
How to identify it
A clumped plant 10 to 60 cm tall with gray-white woolly stems and leaves; leaves are 1 to 8 cm long and often cut into narrow lobes. Flower heads are about 4 to 6.5 cm wide, with a yellow center and usually 8 to 13 yellow rays, borne singly on long stalks.
Habitat
Dry, open, rocky or sandy ground from low elevations to the subalpine zone, including road edges, bluffs, grassy openings and open forest. Plants west of the Cascade crest mostly belong to a different variety than those on the east side.
Sightings in the forest
423 research-grade sightings in Mt. Hood National Forest on iNaturalist, most recently on October 3, 2026. See them on iNaturalist →