Prenanthella exigua

Brightwhite

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Brightwhite is a native annual herb found in the eastern Sierra Nevada desert and desert mountains in desert slopes, washes, and sagebrush to juniper woodland at elevations below 1,900 meters. Flowering from March to June, this delicate plant produces light pink or white flowers in slender, open panicle-like clusters with small, intricate branches. Growing 5 to 30 centimeters tall with a slender, openly much-branched stem that is sparsely glandular-puberulent, it has a distinctive milky sap. Its basal leaves are 1 to 3 centimeters long, spoon-shaped to oblanceolate, with edges that are entire to dentate or irregularly lobed, often featuring minutely spine-tipped teeth. The fruit is 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters long, cylindric with 5 ribs, and crowned by a white pappus of over 80 stiff, minutely barbed bristles.

Habitat: Desert slopes and washes to sagebrush/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1900 m

Bioregions: SNE, D

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