Bassia scoparia

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Bassia scoparia is a naturalized annual found in the California Ranges, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, northern San Francisco Bay, Southern California Coast, San Bernardino Mountains, Great Basin, and Desert regions in disturbed places, fields, and roadsides at elevations below 2,300 meters. Flowering from August to November, this plant produces inconspicuous greenish flowers in densely hairy branched spikes. Growing 20 to 120 centimeters tall with erect, often branching stems, it forms a bushy and widely spreading plant. Its flat leaves are 8 to 50 millimeters long, narrow (1 to 6 millimeters wide), and typically glabrous or lightly hairy with three to five visible veins below the middle. The plant develops small fruits with subtle tubercles or wings less than 2 millimeters long, often partially hidden by dense hair clusters.

Habitat: Disturbed places, fields, roadsides

Bloom period: Aug-Nov

Elevation: < 2300 m

Bioregions: CaR, SN, GV, n SnFrB, SCo, SnBr, 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.