Dicoria canescens

Desert dicoria

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Desert dicoria is a California native perennial found in southern California coastal areas, the southern eastern desert regions, and Colton Dunes in San Bernardino County in alkaline or sandy soils, dunes, and washes at elevations below 1,300 meters. Flowering from September to January, this plant produces white to cream-colored flowers in small clusters with delicate, minutely hairy involucres. Growing with branching stems 20 to 40 centimeters tall, it has a distinctive branching habit that allows it to spread across sandy terrain. Its leaves are relatively small, with blades 1 to 3 centimeters long and 3 to 20 millimeters wide, featuring petioles 5 to 20 millimeters in length. The fruit is 3 to 8 millimeters long, nestled within glandular-hairy, hood-shaped inner phyllaries.

Habitat: Alkaline or sandy soils, dunes, washes, flats

Bloom period: Sep-Jan

Elevation: < 1300 m

Bioregions: SCo (Colton Dunes, San Bernardino Co.), SNE (exc W&ampI), D

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