Layia glandulosa

White layia

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

White layia is a native annual found in the high Sierra Nevada, southern Sierra Nevada foothills, Tehachapi, central and southern San Joaquin Valley, Coast Ranges, Great Basin, and desert regions in generally coarse sandy or gravelly soils at elevations below 2,700 meters. Flowering from February to July, this plant produces white ray flowers 3 to 22 millimeters long that occasionally age to pink or pale yellow, with yellow to brownish disk flowers in bell-shaped heads. Growing 3 to 60 centimeters tall with uniformly dark purple stems that are glandular and sometimes spicy-scented, it develops a variable growth habit. Its leaves range from linear to obovate, with proximal leaves often irregularly toothed or lobed, typically less than 10 centimeters long. The fruit develops ray fruits that are glabrous with a pappus of 10 to 15 white, scabrous scales.

Habitat: Generally coarse sandy or gravelly (silty) soils

Bloom period: Feb-Jul

Elevation: < 2700 m

Bioregions: CaRH, s SNF, SNH, Teh, c&amps SnJV, CW (extirpated SnFrB), SW (exc ChI), GB, D

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