Logfia filaginoides

California cottonrose

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

California cottonrose is a native annual found in the California Floristic Province, Sierra Nevada East, and Desert regions, including uncommon populations in the northwestern and California Ranges, occurring in bare, rocky, or grassy sites and drainages at elevations below 1,800 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces small, inconspicuous flowers with bright red to purple disk lobes in compact heads. Growing 1 to 30 centimeters tall with generally forked stems that are grayish to green and covered in a cobwebby texture, it has a central dominant axis. Its leaves are flexible and oblanceolate, with the largest measuring 10 to 15 millimeters long and 2 to 3 millimeters wide, becoming smaller and more acute toward the stem tips. The plant's distinctive flower heads are pear-shaped, clustered at stem forks, with outer paleae curved inward and inner flowers bearing delicate pappus bristles.

Habitat: Common, +- weedy. Bare, rocky, or grassy sites, drainages

Bloom period: Feb-May

Elevation: < 1800 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (uncommon NW, CaR), SNE, D (esp DMtns)

California counties: Kern, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Los Angeles, Ventura, Inyo, San Bernardino, Imperial, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Colusa, Orange, Mono, Alameda, Amador, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, San Francisco, San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tuolumne, Butte, Fresno, Lake, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Mateo, Shasta, Merced, Tehama, Santa Cruz, Humboldt, Kings, Placer, Trinity, Yolo

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