Lasthenia maritima

Maritime or seaside goldfields, Seaside Goldfields

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Maritime goldfields is a California native annual found in the northern and central Coast ranges on seabird nesting areas and offshore rocks at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces bright yellow flowers in small heads with ray flowers 1 to 3 millimeters long. Growing with prostrate or decumbent stems less than 25 centimeters tall, it forms delicate branched clusters that spread close to the ground. Its leaves are fleshy and strap-shaped, ranging from 1 to 9 centimeters long, with smooth edges and blunt tips. The fruit is 2 to 3.2 millimeters long, covered in fine hairs and topped with 4 to 12 brown awns.

Habitat: Uncommon. Seabird nesting, roosting areas, generally offshore rocks and islands

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: NCo, CCo

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