Oregon Sunshine

Additional Flower Resources Types of Daisies Flower Power

The Sunflower or Aster family (Asteraceae) is the largest flower family in the world.

With over a couple thousand individual aster species identified in the United States, documenting the number of individual species with yellow petals found in any region can be an overwhelming task.

The top picture shows one of the species in the genus Eriophyllum. The hairy appearance of the leaves explains their other common name, woolly sunflowers.

Locally the flower is called Oregon Sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum) because of the bright yellow petals.

Different varieties can be found growing in many western states, making it possible, for example, to find Washington sunshine in Washington state and California sunshine in California.

© 2008 Patricia A. Michaels