Ambrosia salsola var. salsola

Burrobrush

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Burrobrush is a California native shrub found in southern San Joaquin Valley, southern Coast Ranges, southwestern California, southern Great Basin, and desert regions in dry flats, washes, and alluvial fans at elevations from sea level to 1,850 meters. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces small greenish-white flowers in distinctive bur-like heads with spiraled wings. Growing with densely branched stems 0.5 to 2 meters tall, it forms a robust and intricate desert shrub. Its leaves are small and grayish-green, arranged alternately along the stems, providing excellent drought adaptation for arid environments. The fruit develops as a distinctive bur with 10 to 13 spiraled wings that can be 3.5 to 5.5 millimeters long, which help in seed dispersal across harsh desert landscapes.

Habitat: dry flats, washes, fans

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: -70-1850 m

Bioregions: s SnJV, s SCoRI, SW, s GB, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Kern, Riverside, Los Angeles, Inyo, San Diego, Imperial, Mono, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura

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