Malacothrix clevelandii

Cleveland's dandelion

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Cleveland's dandelion is a California native annual found in northwestern California, southern Sierra Nevada foothills, southern Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin Valley, central western, and southwestern California in cleared areas, chaparral, and desert margins at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces pale yellow flowers in open clusters with ligules extending 1 to 3 millimeters beyond the involucre. Growing up to 40 centimeters tall with 1 to 5 erect or ascending stems that are generally branched toward the top, it has a distinctive growth habit. Its basal leaves are oblanceolate with well-spaced teeth or short lobes of approximately equal length, while upper leaves are much reduced with 2 to 4 teeth at the base. The fruit develops as a small structure about 1.2 to 1.8 millimeters long with needle-like outer pappus teeth.

Habitat: Cleared areas (burns, slides), generally chaparral, +- desert margins

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: NW, SNF, s SNH, SnJV, CW, SW (exc s ChI)

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