Achyrachaena mollis

Soft blow wives

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Soft blow wives is a California native annual found in grasslands of the California Floristic Province, often on clay soils at elevations below 1,220 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces yellow flowers that turn reddish, with inconspicuous rays 4 to 7 millimeters long clustered in loose, rounded heads. Growing 4 to 62 centimeters tall with erect, branched stems, it has simple linear leaves 2 to 15 centimeters long that are hairy and sometimes glandular. Its leaves vary from opposite at the base to alternate toward the stem tips, ranging from 1 to 7 millimeters wide and sometimes toothed. The fruit is distinctive, with black ray fruits and brown to black disk fruits accompanied by shiny white pappus scales 3 to 13 millimeters long.

Habitat: Grassy sites, often clay soils

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1220 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc NCo, NCoRH, SNH)

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.