Chaenactis artemisiifolia

White pincushion, White Pincushion

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

White pincushion is a California native annual herb found in southern Sierra de Salinas Mountains and southwestern California (excluding Channel Islands) in dry canyons and open chaparral burn areas at elevations of 80 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers in small clusters of 3 to 20 heads, with delicate disc-like flower heads 5 to 7 millimeters long. Growing with a single branching stem 25 to 90 centimeters tall, it has white mealy or powdery proximal hairs. Its leaves are deeply divided, with 3 to 4 levels of pinnate lobes, typically 5 to 10 pairs of flat-tipped segments along each branch. The plant's distinctive deltate leaf blades spread 3 to 15 centimeters long, creating an intricate, lacy green foliage across dry, often granitic landscapes.

Habitat: dry canyons, open slopes, often granitic, especially chaparral burns

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 80-1600 m

Bioregions: s SCoRO (in 1889), SW (exc ChI)

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