Amblyopappus pusillus

Amblyopappus

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Amblyopappus is a California native annual found in southern California Coastal, Channel Islands, and central Coastal bioregions on coastal dunes, beaches, and headlands at elevations below 250 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces small yellow flowers in compact clusters with heads 3 to 6 millimeters in diameter. Growing 3 to 40 centimeters tall with erect stems that are often much-branched and slightly sticky, it has a distinctive strong odor. Its leaves are simple, alternate or lower leaves opposite, linear to narrow oblanceolate, ranging 1 to 4 centimeters long and somewhat fleshy. The fruit is small, black, and 1.5 to 2 millimeters long with a white or purplish crown of 7 to 12 scales.

Habitat: Coastal dunes, beaches, headlands

Bloom period: Generally Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 250 m

Bioregions: s CCo, SCo, ChI

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