Lessingia hololeuca

Woolly-headed lessingia

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 3

Woolly-headed lessingia is a California native annual herb found in southern North Coast Ranges, southwestern Sacramento Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and northern South Coast Ranges, typically growing in coastal scrub, chaparral, and grassland habitats at elevations of 10 to 600 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces lavender flowers in heads 8 to 13 millimeters long with darker flower tubes. Growing with decumbent to erect stems 5 to 60 centimeters tall that are tan and long-shaggy-hairy, it develops a distinctive appearance. Its basal leaves are petioled and persistent, while cauline leaves are reduced to small lanceolate or awl-shaped bracts covered in tomentose hair. The plant's soft, cobwebby tomentose phyllaries with green or purplish tips further distinguish this delicate annual.

Habitat: Coastal scrub, chaparral, grassland, roadsides, occasionally on serpentine or alkali soil

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: 10-600 m

Bioregions: s NCoR, sw ScV (historic), SnFrB, n SCoR (near Salinas).

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