Madia subspicata

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Madia subspicata is a California native annual found in the northern Sierra Nevada foothills, Sutter Buttes, and central valley grasslands at elevations of 50 to 800 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces pale yellow ray flowers with golden yellow disk flowers in small, unshowy heads. Growing 5 to 60 centimeters tall with soft-hairy stems that become glandular toward the top, it develops slender lateral branches that do not exceed the main stem. Its leaves are narrow and linear, measuring 2 to 7 centimeters long and only 1 to 5 millimeters wide, typically found in grasslands and open woodland areas. The fruits are compressed and dark, ranging from black to brown with occasional purple mottling, and appear slightly club-shaped.

Habitat: Grassland, open woodland, often in shade

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 50-800 m

Bioregions: CaRF, n&ampc SNF, ScV (Sutter Buttes).

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