Cleomella arborea var. globosa

Bladderpod

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS PPD

Bladderpod is a California native shrub found in southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, Tehachapi, southern San Joaquin Valley, south Coast Ranges, southern California Coast, Channel Islands, Transverse Ranges, and western Mojave Desert on slopes, roadcuts, and grasslands at elevations of 15 to 1,830 meters. Flowering from October to July, this plant produces pale yellow to greenish-yellow flowers in small clusters. Growing as a rounded shrub 1 to 2 meters tall with multiple branching stems, it forms a dense, compact structure. Its leaves are compound with small, rounded leaflets that have a distinctive blue-green color and waxy texture. The fruit is a distinctive spherical pod with a rounded base, tapering to a short beak, giving the plant its common name of bladderpod.

Habitat: Slopes, roadcuts, grassland, coastal scrub

Bloom period: Oct-Jul

Elevation: 15-1830 m

Bioregions: s SNF, Teh, s SnJV, SCoR, SCo, ChI, TR, w DMoj.

California counties: San Bernardino, Kern, Los Angeles, Monterey, Fresno, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, San Diego, Riverside, San Benito, Butte, Santa Barbara, Merced, Orange

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