(nat) Smooth cat’s ear
Taprooted annual herbs 1-4 dm tall, unbranched or sparingly branched, glabrous or nearly so. Leaves oblanceolate, 2.5-15 cm long, 0.7-3.5 cm wide, glabrous or sparsely pubescent along the veins and margins, toothed or pinnatifid. Involucre 8-10 mm high at anthesis and nearly twice that in fruit; rays scarcely exceeding the involucre. Outermost achenes beakless, the remainder with a long slender beak. [2n = 8, 10, 12.] Native to Europe; in Hawai‘i naturalized often in relatively dry sites, 600-2,800 m, on all of the main islands except Ni‘ihau and Lana‘i. First collected on Moloka‘i in 1915 (Forbes 773.Mo, BISH).
This species and the next are generally quite distinct from one another, but in areas where they grow together they may hybridize. In such cases, any of the differences between them may be nearly completely blurred.