Gamochaeta argyrinea

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Gamochaeta argyrinea is a naturalized annual found in the Lake Oroville area of Butte County in disturbed freshwater marsh at elevations of 40 to 260 meters. Flowering in May, this plant produces flowers with purple to yellow-brown corollas in dense head clusters 1.5 to 5 centimeters long. Growing with decumbent-ascending stems 10 to 24 centimeters tall that are densely white-felty-tomentose, it has a fibrous root system. Its leaves range from 1.5 to 5 centimeters long, oblanceolate to oblanceolate-obovate, with contrasting surfaces—sparsely cobwebby-tomentose on top and white-felty-tomentose underneath. The fruit is tiny, measuring 0.5 to 0.6 millimeters long.

Habitat: On fine or gravelly, dry or damp, sometimes granite soil below high water line in disturbed freshwater marsh in destroyed foothill woodland

Bloom period: May

Elevation: 40-260 m

Bioregions: ScV (Lake Oroville area, Butte Co.)

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