Baccharis salicina

Willow baccharis

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Willow baccharis is a California native shrub found in southern California regions including the Colorado Desert, coastal southern California, and western Transverse Ranges in stream banks and alkaline marshes at elevations from 60 meters below sea level to 1,600 meters. Flowering from May to November, this plant produces white to cream-colored flowers in tight clusters of 3 to 5 heads. Growing 1 to 3 meters tall with erect, much-branched stems that have ascending branches, it forms a distinctive shrubby structure. Its leaves are linear-oblong to narrowly oblanceolate, 25 to 70 millimeters long with wedge-shaped bases and toothed margins toward the tips, displaying three main veins. The fruit develops small glabrous seeds with 8 to 10 ribs and a pappus that elongates as the plant matures.

Habitat: Stream banks, alkaline marshes

Bloom period: May-Nov

Elevation: -60-1600 m

Bioregions: SCoRI, SCo, WTR, PR, D

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