Ambrosia chenopodiifolia

San diego bur-sage, San Diego bur-sage, San Diego bur-sage

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.1

San diego bur-sage is a rare (CNPS 2B.1) California native shrub found in southern coastal Southern California in southwestern San Diego County's coastal scrub habitats at elevations below 250 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces small, inconspicuous flowers in compact clusters with staminate and pistillate heads. Growing as a rounded, much-branched shrub less than 3.5 meters tall with slender, tough stems covered in soft tomentose hair. Its leaves are small, about 1 to 3 centimeters long, roughly ovate and varying from entire to palmately 3-lobed, with dense white tomentose undersides and a greener, sparsely hairy upper surface. The fruit is a distinctive bur 5 to 7 millimeters wide, covered in dense woolly material and adorned with 12 to 25 spiraled, slender spines that are generally hooked.

Habitat: Coastal scrub

Bloom period: Feb-May

Elevation: < 250 m

Bioregions: s SCo (sw San Diego Co.)

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