About Dieteria canescens (Pursh) Nutt.
Dieteria canescens, formerly classified as Machaeranthera canescens, is an annual or short-lived perennial plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commonly known by the names hoary tansyaster and hoary-aster, and its species epithet "canescens" means "gray-hairy". This species is native to western and central North America, with a range stretching from the Pacific Coast to the western Great Plains. It grows from British Columbia in the north south to California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, and east to Saskatchewan, the Dakotas, and Oklahoma. A small number of isolated populations are also found in Iowa and Minnesota. The Zuni people make an infusion from the whole plant of Dieteria canescens subspecies canescens variety canescens, and rub this infusion on the abdomen to use as an emetic. There are multiple accepted varieties of Dieteria canescens, each with their own native distributions: Dieteria canescens var. ambigua (B.L.Turner) D.R.Morgan & R.L.Hartm. is native to Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico; Dieteria canescens var. aristata (Eastw.) D.R.Morgan & R.L.Hartm. is native to Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah; Dieteria canescens var. canescens is native to Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, plus Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming; Dieteria canescens var. glabra (A.Gray) D.R.Morgan & R.L.Hartm. is native to Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming, and Chihuahua; Dieteria canescens var. incana (Lindl.) D.R.Morgan & R.L.Hartm. is native to Nebraska, South Dakota; Dieteria canescens var. leucanthemifolia (Greene) D.R.Morgan & R.L.Hartm. is native to California, Nevada, Utah; Dieteria canescens var. nebraskana (B.L.Turner) D.R.Morgan & R.L.Hartm. is native to Nebraska, South Dakota; Dieteria canescens var. sessiliflora (Nutt.) D.R.Morgan & R.L.Hartm. is native to Idaho; Dieteria canescens var. shastensis (A.Gray) D.R.Morgan & R.L.Hartm. is native to California, Nevada, Oregon; Dieteria canescens var. ziegleri (Munz) D.R.Morgan & R.L.Hartm. is native to the Santa Rosa Mountains in Riverside County, California.
