Leptosyne maritima

Sea dahlia

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2

Sea dahlia is a rare (CNPS 2B.2) California native perennial found in southern San Diego County seabluffs at elevations below 20 meters. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces yellow ray flowers 25 to 40 millimeters long in heads with 15 to 20 rays arranged in small clusters of 2 to 4. Growing 30 to 80 centimeters tall with stout, hollow, much-branched stems emerging from a fleshy taproot, it develops a distinctive branching structure. Its alternate leaves are fleshy and 2 to 3-pinnately divided, with narrow linear lobes 1.5 to 50 millimeters long. The fruit is 6 to 7 millimeters long, dark brown, with a narrow thin wing and no pappus.

Habitat: Seabluffs

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: < 20 m

Bioregions: s SCo (San Diego Co.)

California counties: San Diego

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