Cotula coronopifolia

Brass-buttons

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Brass-buttons is a naturalized perennial found in coastal and central California regions including northern Coast Ranges, Sacramento Valley, central Western California, southern California Coast, Channel Islands, and Peninsular Ranges in saline and freshwater marshes and mud flats at elevations below 1,200 meters. Flowering from March to December, this plant produces bright yellow disk flowers in small compact heads. Growing with prostrate or erect stems 5 to 40 centimeters tall that root at the nodes, it spreads readily across wet habitats. Its linear to lanceolate leaves are 2 to 7 centimeters long, fused at the base to form a sheath around the stem and covered with resin glands. The fruit is prominently stalked and winged, with outer segments 1.2 to 2 millimeters long.

Habitat: Common. Saline and freshwater marshes, mud flats

Bloom period: Mar-Dec

Elevation: < 1200 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRI, n SNF, ScV, CW, SCo, ChI, WTR, PR

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