Atrichoseris is a genus of plants in the family Asteraceae.[1] [2] It contains only one known species, Atrichoseris platyphylla, known by the common names tobacco weed, parachute plant, and gravel ghost.[3]
A. platyphylla is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States (southern California, Arizona, Nevada and the southwestern corner of Utah) and northwestern Mexico (Sonora, Baja California).[4]
The plant produces a low basal rosette of rounded leaves patterned with gray-green and purple patches at ground level. It sends up a weedy-looking thin branching stem up to 70cm (30inches) tall, topped with a number of attractive, fragrant white or pink-tinged flowers, about NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) wide, the layered ray florets rectangular and toothed.[5] [6] The flowers bloom between February and May. The hairless fruit has the shape of a five-sided club.
The genus name, Atrichoseris, means 'chicory plant without hairs', referring to the fruit, and the specific epithet, platyphylla, means 'flat-leaved'.