Gamochaeta ustulata

Featherweed

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Featherweed is a California native perennial herb found in northwestern California, central Sierra Nevada foothills, San Joaquin Valley, central western California, southern Coast Ranges, southern California Coast, Channel Islands, and Peninsular Ranges in dunes, bluffs, fields, and disturbed sites at elevations below 650 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces yellow to purple-tipped flowers in dense cylindric head clusters 12 to 18 millimeters wide. Growing with erect to ascending white, densely felty-tomentose stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall, it often develops decumbent, stolon-like growth. Its leaves are distinctive, with spoon-shaped to oblanceolate blades 2 to 5 centimeters long, featuring contrasting surfaces - sparsely cobwebby above and white, felty-tomentose beneath. The fruit is tiny, measuring 0.7 to 0.8 millimeters long.

Habitat: Dunes, bluffs, fields, disturbed sites

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 650(1050) m

Bioregions: NW, c SNF, SnJV, w CW, SCoRO, SCo, ChI, PR

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