Many of these plants were growing on sandy, alkali substrate in flat openings within desert scrub on a gently rolling portion of the Owens Valley floor.

Goodmania luteola and Gilmania luteola (see also treatments here and here) are an interesting pair of relatively little-known annuals (the latter quite rare) and are the unique representatives of their respective monotypic genera. They have a very similar gestalt...both are prostrate, repeatedly-branching, radial sprawlers with small, round yellowish-green leaves and yellow flowers (the yellowish cast presumably the source of their shared specific epithet). However, Goodmania has slender-lobed, awn-tipped involcres, while Gilmania lacks any involucres at all (which is quite unusual among the many wonderful genera in the subfamily Eriogonoideae). Also, the involucres of Goodmania are distinctive in that their lobes are separate to the base...rather than fused into a well-defined tube as is typical in most eriogonoids (e.g. Eriogonum, Chorizanthe, Oxytheca, etc).

Though providing potential for confusion, it's also fun that Goodmania luteola and Gilmania luteola share the same epithet and their generic names differ by only a few letters ;-).

I was thrilled to see this species at last, and am grateful to Steve M. for pointing it out to me in the field as an unexpected treat.