Lasthenia minor

Coastal goldfields

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Coastal goldfields is a California native annual found in northern coastal, Sierra Nevada foothills, southern Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, central coast, and southern coastal ranges in grassland habitats at elevations below 700 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces bright yellow ray flowers 4 to 8 millimeters long with golden disk centers. Growing with erect stems up to 35 centimeters tall, it can be simple or extensively branched and is covered in sparse to dense woolly hairs. Its leaves are linear, 2 to 12 centimeters long, ranging from entirely smooth to irregularly toothed or lobed with small lobes less than 1.5 centimeters. The distinctive fruit is less than 2.6 millimeters long, narrowly club-shaped, and may be black with brown or white tapered awns.

Habitat: Grassland

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 700 m

Bioregions: NCo, SNF, s ScV, SnJV, CCo, SCoR.

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