Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus subsp. puberulus

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Viscid rabbitbrush is a California native shrub found in the eastern Sierra Nevada, San Bernardino Mountains, Great Basin, and desert mountains in sagebrush scrub, pinyon and juniper woodland, and subalpine slopes at elevations of 1,500 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from July to October, this plant produces yellow flowers in narrow cylindric clusters with blooms 4 to 7 millimeters long. Growing 30 to 100 centimeters tall with spreading, densely puberulent stems that are gray-green in color, it develops a distinctly conic and bushy appearance. Its leaves are thread-like to slightly oblanceolate, 1 to 4 centimeters long and typically 1 to 2 millimeters wide, covered in soft spreading hairs. The plant exhibits interesting variation, with tetraploid populations typically found at lower elevations and characterized by larger overall size.

Habitat: Sagebrush scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland, subalpine slopes

Bloom period: Jul-Oct

Elevation: 1500-3000 m

Bioregions: SN (e slope), SnBr, GB, DMtns

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