This distinctive little perennial is a delight to find for several reasons. Firstly, it is a most attractive little wildflower having its stems and oblong leaves covered with downy, woolly white hairs. Secondly, the yellow flower-heads (8mm across) which are rayless and like little fluffy buttons at the top of the stems; these small flower-heads are composed of tubular florets backed by broad overlapping bracts. And thirdly, if you find it you are lucky because it's considered to be extremely rarely found in Ireland. It flowers in August and September, barely reaching more than 30cm high, Cottonweed grows on sand and shingle beaches on the south-east coast. This is a native plant belonging to the family Asteraceae
I found it in 2008 in S.E. Wexford and photographed it at that time.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
