Heterotheca shevockii

Shevock's goldenaster

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.3

Shevock's goldenaster is a rare California native (CNPS 1B.3) perennial herb found in the southern Sierra Nevada Foothill region of Kern River Canyon in grassland, pine/oak woodland, and rocky crevices at elevations of 400 to 800 meters. Flowering from August to September, this plant produces bright yellow ray flowers 5 to 12 millimeters long in dense clusters with 5 to 20 flower heads. Growing 50 to 130 centimeters tall with ascending to erect stems that are sparsely bristly and become increasingly glandular toward the top, it develops a complex branching pattern in its flowering region. Its leaves vary from oblanceolate basal forms to lance-triangular mid-stem leaves that are often stiff, slightly reflexed, and marginally inrolled, with surfaces that are sparsely scabrous and increasingly glandular toward the stem tips. The flower heads feature 9 to 18 ray flowers and 30 to 80 disk flowers, creating a distinctive panicle-like cluster characteristic of this endemic goldenaster.

Habitat: Crevices, shallow sand, grassland, pine/oak woodland

Bloom period: Aug-Sep

Elevation: 400-800 m

Bioregions: s SNF (Kern River Canyon).

California counties: Kern

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