Ambrosia ×platyspina

Hybrid bur-sage, Hybrid Bur-Sage

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Hybrid bur-sage is a California native shrub found in southern Great Basin and desert bioregions in sandy creosote-bush and mixed desert scrub at elevations of 550 to 1,550 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces small, inconspicuous greenish flowers in clustered heads. Growing to 1.5 meters tall with much-branched stems that are thinly covered in stiff, close-lying hairs, it forms a dense, complex shrub. Its leaves are deeply divided with narrow, inrolled lobes that create a densely hairy groove on the upper surface. The distinctive fruit is a bur approximately 6 millimeters long, with 14 to 18 spiraled wings that end in spines, giving the plant a uniquely textured appearance.

Habitat: Sandy soils; creosote-bush and mixed desert scrub

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: 550-1550 m

Bioregions: s GB, D

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