Pentachaeta bellidiflora

White-rayed pentachaeta

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1 · Endangered

White-rayed pentachaeta is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native annual found in northern Central Coast and San Francisco Bay Area in grassy or rocky areas at elevations below 620 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white ray flowers 3 to 6 millimeters long with subtle red tones on the underside, accompanied by yellow disk flowers. Growing with delicate stems 6 to 17 centimeters tall that are sparsely hairy, it forms small clusters of up to 4 flower heads. Its narrow leaves are less than 4.5 centimeters long and only 1 millimeter wide, appearing smooth and glabrous. The flower heads have distinctive widely bell-shaped involucres with elliptic to obovate phyllaries that are completely glabrous.

Habitat: Grassy or rocky areas

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 620 m

Bioregions: n CCo, SnFrB.

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