Monticalia empetroides

Native to Ecuador and Peru, this densely branching mountain shrub reaches about 1.5 feet tall. In Ecuador it grows among páramo grasses on sheltered slopes and rocky ground. Woolly white branchlets carry solitary terminal flower heads. Narrow yellow ray florets surround a central disk of tubular florets, producing a small daisy-like bloom. Its tiny, stiff leaves have rolled-under edges and densely woolly white undersides. In Ecuador’s Cajas National Park, it occurs at about 10,500 to 12,800 feet. Photographed in Ecuador.