Krascheninnikovia lanata

Winter fat

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Winter fat is a California native shrub found in the Tehachapi Mountains, southern San Joaquin Valley, western Transverse Ranges, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert in rocky to clay soils at elevations of 100 to 2,700 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces small, inconspicuous flowers with white to rust-colored hairs covering its branches and stems. Growing 50 to 100 centimeters tall with a distinctive woolly appearance, it forms a compact, rounded shrub with densely clustered branches. Its narrow leaves are 1 to 4 centimeters long with margins rolled inward, giving the plant a soft, grayish-white textural quality. The fruit is covered in white hairs, contributing to the plant's characteristic woolly appearance.

Habitat: Rocky to clay soils, flats, gentle slopes

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 100-2700 m

Bioregions: Teh, s SnJV, WTR (n slope), GB, DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Kern, Inyo, San Diego, Mono, Los Angeles, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Lassen

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