Madia gracilis

Gumweed, Gumweed

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Gumweed is a California native annual found in California Floristic Province and Great Basin regions in open, semi-shaded, or disturbed sites, including serpentine habitats, at elevations up to 2,500 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces lemon-yellow or green-yellow ray flowers with dark purple disk flowers in small, inconspicuous heads. Growing 15 to 100 centimeters tall with soft to coarse-hairy stems that become glandular-hairy with yellow, purple, or black glands, it spreads with lateral branches rarely exceeding the main stem. Its leaves are narrow and elongated, 1 to 10 centimeters long and 1 to 8 millimeters wide, ranging from oblong to linear in shape. The fruit is distinctive, with ray and disk fruits that are compressed and colored black, purple, or mottled with a nearly beakless appearance.

Habitat: Open, semi-shaded, or disturbed sites, many habitats, including serpentine

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: < 2500 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc SnJV, SCo), GB (exc W&ampI)

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