Hedypnois rhagadioloides

Crete weed, Crete Weed

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Crete weed is a naturalized annual herb found in coastal, central, and southern California regions, including grasslands, pastures, and roadsides at elevations below 1,150 meters. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces yellow flowers in heads 8 to 10 millimeters long arranged in open, loose clusters. Growing with slender stems 5 to 40 centimeters tall that are finely bristly with forked hairs, it develops a delicate, spreading form. Its leaves are oblong to oblanceolate, measuring 5 to 18 centimeters long, with lower leaves tapering to the base and covered in soft, minute bristles. The fruit is 5 to 7 millimeters long with a distinctive pappus of fused scale-like structures.

Habitat: Weed of pastures, grassy slopes, roadsides

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: < 1150 m

Bioregions: NCo, s NCoRO, CaRF, SNF, GV, CW, SW, w DSon

California counties: Ventura, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Butte, Nevada, Riverside, Los Angeles, Merced, Mariposa, Tuolumne, Mendocino, Napa, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Yuba, San Francisco, Tehama, Marin, Calaveras, Orange, Santa Barbara, Monterey

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