Arnica cordifolia

Heartleaf arnica

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Heartleaf arnica is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, eastern San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and Modoc Plateau in high meadows and conifer forests at elevations of 500 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces yellow ray flowers with disk florets, forming radiate heads 15 to 20 millimeters long. Growing 10 to 40 centimeters tall with 1 to few loose, generally unbranched stems emerging from a scaly-tipped rhizome, it has an uneven glandular and short-hairy appearance. Its leaves include 2 to 4 pairs of stem leaves with heart-shaped blades 3 to 11 centimeters long, often with shallow teeth, and persistent basal leaves on sterile rosettes. The fruit is 5 to 10 millimeters long, covered in short forked hairs with a white short-barbed pappus.

Habitat: High meadows, conifer forest

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 500-3000 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRH, SNH, e SnFrB, SCoRO, PR, MP

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