General: Woolly Desert Marigold (Baileya pleniradiata) is an uncommon perennial forb with relatively large, showy, yellow daisy (composite) flowers that is easily confused with the much more common Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata) or a similar species, Laxflower (Baileya pauciradiata), in the California desert.

The ray flowers are numerous (at least 15), the involucre is wide (7–25 mm diameter), and there is one flowerhead per peduncle (flower stalk). Therefore not Laxflower (Baileya pauciradiata).

Furthermore, the leaves are mostly off the ground, the ray flowers are short (6-10 mm long), oval, and indistinctly 3-lobed. The peduncles are short (less than 10 cm long) with small leaves (bracts). Style tips are conical. Therefore not Desert Marigold (Baileya pleniradiata).

Woolly Desert Marigolds are uncommon components of the spring wildflower display in sandy places in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae).

Plant Form: Perennial forb with basal leaves and upright flower stalks.

Height: With flowers, to about 18 inches. Leafy parts usually to about 6 inches.

Leaves: Mostly basal with a few small leaves on the flowering stems. Basal leaves to about 5 inches long, deeply lobed (almost compound), white-hairy. Leaves on the stems are short (to about 1 inch) and narrow.

Flowers: Blooms late spring to early summer. Inflorescence: one flower (flowerhead) per peduncle (flower stalk). Flower: showy daisy-like (composite with disk and ray flowers), dull yellow, to about 1-1/2 inches across. Ray flowers: 15 or more, oval. Involucre: broad (7–25 mm diameter).

Distribution: Central California, central Nevada, southwest Utah, southern Arizona, and south into northern Mexico and Baja California.