Centaurea cineraria

Dusty miller

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Dusty miller is a naturalized perennial herb found in coastal areas of California including the Central Coast, Southern Coast, and Channel Islands in disturbed areas and coastal scrub at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from May to September, this plant produces distinctive purple flowers in radiant heads with straw-colored to black fringed phyllary tips. Growing 30 to 90 centimeters tall with multiple branching stems emerging from a woody base, it is densely covered in gray tomentose (felt-like) hair. Its leaves range from 5 to 25 centimeters long on the lower stems, shallowly lobed or deeply dissected, with upper leaves becoming progressively narrower and less divided. The plant's fruit is approximately 3.5 millimeters long, tan-colored and lightly hairy with short white pappus bristles.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, coastal scrub

Bloom period: May-Sep

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: CCo, SCo, ChI

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