Arnica nevadensis

Sierra arnica, Sierra Arnica

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Sierra arnica is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, California Ranges, and Sierra Nevada Mountains in conifer forests and meadows at elevations of 1,500 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces yellow ray flowers 10 to 20 millimeters long with distinctive radiate heads. Growing with stems 10 to 50 centimeters tall, it has 1 to several loose, generally unbranched stems with short or long hairs. Its basal and cauline leaves are elliptic to widely ovate, 3 to 8 centimeters long, with rounded bases and nearly entire margins. The plant emerges from a long, scaly rhizome and produces heads with glandular, stalked phyllaries that are often long-hairy at the base.

Habitat: Conifer forest, meadows

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: 1500-3000 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaRH, SNH

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