Pearly Everlasting

Day 310: Who among us does not know the humble Pearly Everlasting? We may not know it by name, but its crisp, white heads have woven themselves into the tapestry of fond memory, likely from the days of our youth. Paperlike white bracts (modified leaves) cluster around a small center of yellow disk flowers on this, the only North American Anaphalis (A. margaritacea), and it is found across the US with the exception of the southernmost states from Texas to Florida and, mysteriously, North Dakota. It is also prevalent in Canada and parts of Asia. It often grows where other plants would struggle: in compacted, rocky or clayey soils which incline many people to dismiss it as a weed, but it is in fact a native species.