Ericameria nauseosa var. speciosa

Showy rabbitbrush, Showy Rabbitbrush

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Showy rabbitbrush is a California native shrub found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, San Francisco Bay Area, Modoc Plateau, eastern Sierra Nevada, and Panamint Mountains in many dry habitats at elevations of 50 to 3,500 meters. Flowering from August to October, this plant produces yellow flowers in clusters with corolla tubes 9 to 13 millimeters long. Growing with leafy stems 20 to 100 centimeters tall, it has a loosely tomentose appearance ranging from gray-white to dark green. Its leaves are 30 to 70 millimeters long, narrowly lanceolate and densely clustered along the stem. The shrub forms distinctive rounded clusters with bright yellow blossoms that stand out in dry, open landscapes.

Habitat: Common. Many dry habitats

Bloom period: Aug-Oct

Elevation: 50-3500 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, SnFrB, MP, SNE, DMtns (Panamint Canyon)

California counties: Alpine, Amador, El Dorado, Fresno, Inyo, Mono, Siskiyou, Sierra, Glenn, Kern, Lake, Lassen, Mariposa, Shasta, Butte, Colusa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Madera, Marin, Mendocino, Santa Clara, Nevada, Plumas, Placer, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Modoc, Yuba, Monterey, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Los Angeles, San Bernardino

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