Lasthenia conjugens

Contra costa goldfields, Contra Costa Goldfields

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1 · Endangered

Contra costa goldfields is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native annual found in southern Sacramento Valley (Napa and Solano counties), Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and historically in northern coastal regions in vernal pools and wet meadows at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces bright yellow flowers in small heads with 6 to 13 ray flowers, each ray 5 to 10 millimeters long. Growing up to 40 centimeters tall with stems that are either simple or freely branched and glabrous or slightly hairy, it develops delicate linear leaves less than 8 centimeters long. Its leaves are entire or occasionally pinnately lobed, with an intricate involucre 6 to 10 millimeters wide featuring 12 to 18 hairy phyllaries that persist through flowering. The tiny fruits are club-shaped and less than 1.5 millimeters long, with no pappus present.

Habitat: Vernal pools, wet meadows

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: s ScV (Napa, Solano cos.), CCo, SnFrB, formerly NCo, NCoRO, SCo.

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