Layia hieracioides

Hawkweed layia

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Hawkweed layia is a California native annual found in central western and western Transverse Ranges in open, semi-shady, or disturbed sites at elevations below 1,200 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces yellow ray flowers 1 to 4 millimeters long with distinctive dark purple disk flower anthers. Growing 5 to 130 centimeters tall with strictly erect, purple-streaked stems that are glandular and sweetly or pungently scented, it develops an upright and linear form. Its leaves range from elliptic to linear or oblanceolate, less than 15 centimeters long, with proximal leaves often toothed or irregularly lobed. The plant's fruit features a pappus of 10 to 16 white to red-brown bristles that are plumose at the base and scabrous distally.

Habitat: Open, semi-shady, or disturbed sites, in light soil

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 1200 m

Bioregions: CW, w WTR.

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