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Townsendia exscapa; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-05-31

Townsendia exscapa (Richardson) Porter

Stemless Townsend daisy; Stemless townsendia; Dwarf townsendia; Low Townsend-daisy

Asteraceae · Alberta, Manitoba +17

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Townsendia exscapa (Richardson) Porter: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Richards.) Porter.

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Townsendia exscapa, photograph (c) Wendy McCrady, some rights reserved (CC BY)Townsendia exscapa, photograph (c) Wendy McCrady, some rights reserved (CC BY)Townsendia exscapa, photograph (c) Wendy McCrady, some rights reserved (CC BY)Townsendia exscapa, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTownsendia exscapa, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedTownsendia exscapa, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 66 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-17.0°C
Record low -29.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
482mm
8 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
18–49DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes April to October, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Townsendia exscapa, commonly referred to as Easter daisy or stemless Townsend daisy, is species in the daisy family in the genus Townsendia. It is a low-lying perennial found in openings of pine forests and meadows. Distribution of the flower includes Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, through the Dakotas down to Texas and Chihuahua, Mexico, and also extending westward to Idaho, Nevada, and Arizona.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Townsendia exscapa", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (347 mm of 463 mm) falls in April to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 16.1 °C against a yearly mean of 9.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to April.

Rain

463 mm in the median year at the habitat, 347 mm of it April to October. Wettest month August at 70 mm, driest month January at 19 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 360 mm to 665 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 482 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 463 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 49 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 54).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -17.0 °C, the absolute minimum -29.5 °C, 5,535 frost nights in 44 years, 125.8 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 40.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -6.0 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -13.2 °C to -0.7 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.9 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -17.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 49 to 53% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +30 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Townsendia exscapa through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -6.0 °C; 463 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-40°-20°0°20°40°60°frost40.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-29.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 18–49RH 49–53%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 520 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C5 / -1–127 / 1–1412 / 5–1817 / 11–2322 / 17–2727 / 22–3129 / 25–3327 / 24–3224 / 19–2818 / 12–2311 / 4–175 / -2–11
Night °C-6 / -13–-1-5 / -12–1-2 / -8–42 / -3–98 / 2–1412 / 7–1915 / 11–2115 / 10–2111 / 6–175 / 1–11-1 / -7–5-6 / -13–0
Rain mm19 / 10–5720 / 11–5931 / 19–6133 / 18–6144 / 15–9449 / 11–9466 / 43–9370 / 44–9547 / 32–6838 / 27–5523 / 14–4623 / 12–54
DLI20 / 15–2327 / 21–2935 / 29–3843 / 36–4747 / 39–5149 / 43–5446 / 44–4841 / 39–4336 / 32–3928 / 22–3121 / 16–2418 / 13–21
RH %53 / 49–5953 / 49–5851 / 46–5649 / 41–5450 / 39–5549 / 37–5650 / 45–5452 / 48–5551 / 46–5451 / 46–5551 / 47–5653 / 49–59
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 520 grid cells holding the 711 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1005:1652 (39.725, -97.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -29.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -17.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 40.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 520 distinct grid cells holding 711 of the 711 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1005:1652 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.50_-97.500, lapse-corrected +30 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 460 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAlberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker34.363, -111.28 · in the densest population, 624 records (63% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 991 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 711 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 467 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 498 km away. 280 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 991 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Townsendia exscapa, photograph 1did not loadTownsendia exscapa, photograph 2did not loadTownsendia exscapa, photograph 3did not loadTownsendia exscapa, photograph 4did not loadTownsendia exscapa, photograph 5did not loadTownsendia exscapa, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Wendy McCrady, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Bouteloua gracilis Bouteloua gracilis Blue grama Photo: CC BY, Elliott GordonEchinocereus viridiflorus Echinocereus viridiflorus Nylon hedgehog cactus Photo: CC BY, Anders HastingsQuercus × undulata Quercus × undulata Fagaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPelecyphora vivipara Pelecyphora vivipara Pincushion cactus Photo: CC BY, John KramplElymus longifolius Elymus longifolius Bottlebrush Photo: CC BY, Martin PurdyMentzelia multiflora Mentzelia multiflora Adonis stickleaf Photo: CC BY, Austin Saunders

Other Townsendia 13 in the reference

Townsendia condensata Townsendia condensata Alpine townsendia Photo: CC BY, Dee Shea HimesTownsendia eximia Townsendia eximia Tall Townsend daisy Photo: CC0, author not statedTownsendia formosa Townsendia formosa Smooth Townsend daisy Photo: CC0, author not stated Townsendia glabella Gray's Ground-Daisy Townsendia grandiflora Townsendia grandiflora Largeflower Townsend daisy Photo: CC BY, Brandon CorderTownsendia hookeri Townsendia hookeri Hooker's townsendia Photo: CC0, author not statedTownsendia incana Townsendia incana Hoary Townsend daisy Photo: CC BY, Parker James LloydTownsendia jonesii Townsendia jonesii Jones' Townsend daisy Photo: CC BY, Parker James LloydTownsendia mensana Townsendia mensana Table Townsend daisy Photo: CC BY, Parker James LloydTownsendia montana Townsendia montana Wyoming Townsend daisy Photo: CC BY, Kenzie Anderson-BellTownsendia parryi Townsendia parryi Parry's Townsend daisy Photo: CC0, author not statedTownsendia rothrockii Townsendia rothrockii Rothrock's Townsend daisy Photo: CC BY, Anders Hastings all 14 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Aster exscapus; Townsendia excapa; Townsendia exscapa var. exscapa; Townsendia exscapa var. wilcoxiana; Townsendia intermedia and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
(Richardson) Porter
Native to
Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan +16
Wild records
991 in range · 467 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 5401936 is Townsendia exscapa (Richards.) Porter; the page links Kew's Townsendia exscapa (Richardson) Porter, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 3 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.50_-97.500, lapse-corrected +30 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Townsendia exscapa (Richardson) Porter (the item's: IPNI 255878-1, POWO 255696-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 68 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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