Iva axillaris

Poverty weed

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Poverty weed is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada, southern Sierra Nevada, southern Sierra Nevada foothills, Central Valley, Central Western California, southwestern California, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert in seasonally wet, saline habitats and roadsides at elevations below 2,500 meters. Flowering from April to October, this plant produces small white to greenish flowers in compact clusters. Growing with erect stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall emerging from a rhizome, it forms dense clumps in disturbed areas. Its leaves are elliptic to spoon-shaped, 15 to 25 millimeters long, with a slightly rough surface covered in fine hairs and dotted with glands. The fruit is small, approximately 2.5 to 3 millimeters long.

Habitat: Seasonally wet, saline habitats, roadsides

Bloom period: Apr-Oct

Elevation: < 2500 m

Bioregions: CaRH, SNH, s SNF, GV, CW, SW (exc ChI), GB, DMoj

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