Coleogyne ramosissima

Black brush

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Black brush is a California native shrub found in the southern eastern deserts, especially the desert mountains, on dry, open slopes, creosote-bush scrub, and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 600 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces yellow flowers, occasionally with reddish undertones, in single terminal blooms approximately 5 to 8 millimeters long. Growing as a much-branched, thorny shrub 20 to 200 centimeters tall with a strigose appearance, it forms dense, intricate branching patterns. Its leaves grow in opposite clusters, with simple, thick linear-oblanceolate blades 5 to 15 millimeters long, featuring persistent stipules. The fruit is a crescent-shaped, red-brown achene approximately 4 to 6 millimeters long, with a long-hairy style persisting from the ovary.

Habitat: Dry, open slopes, creosote-bush scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 600-2000 m

Bioregions: SNE, D (esp DMtns)

California counties: San Bernardino, Mono, Kern, Inyo, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Imperial, San Benito

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