Carlquistia muirii

Muir's tarplant

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.3

Muir's tarplant is a rare California native perennial ranked 1B.3 by CNPS, found in southern Sierra Nevada and southern Coast Ranges of Monterey County in dry, open sites on granitic soils at elevations of 1,100 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces yellow flowers in discoid heads up to 10 millimeters in diameter, with 7 to 29 disk flowers. Growing from a woody rhizome with erect stems 7 to 54 centimeters tall that form a generally matted habit, it has a distinctive spreading growth pattern. Its leaves are simple and linear to lance-linear, 9 to 42 millimeters long and 2 to 4 millimeters wide, covered in coarse to soft hairs with glandular surfaces. The fruit is 4 to 7.5 millimeters long, black, with a white to brownish pappus of 9 to 17 awl-shaped scales.

Habitat: Dry, open sites on granitic soils

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: 1100-2500 m

Bioregions: s SNH, SCoRO (Ventana Double Cone, Monterey Co.).

California counties: Kern, Tulare, Monterey, Fresno

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