Pseudognaphalium microcephalum

Wright's cudweed

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Wright's cudweed is a California native perennial found in coastal and southern California bioregions including San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains, coastal southern California, northern Channel Islands, western Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in grassy hillsides, gravelly canyon bottoms, chaparral, and coastal-sage scrub at elevations below 2,250 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white flowers in loose, flat-topped clusters with 5 to 6 millimeter wide involucres. Growing with erect stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall that are persistently covered in soft white felt-like hairs, it develops a dense, somewhat sprawling habit. Its leaves are narrowly oblanceolate, 2 to 5 centimeters long and 5 to 10 millimeters wide, gradually becoming smaller toward the stem tips and clasping the stem with slightly different colored upper and lower surfaces. The fruit is slightly ridged and smooth to weakly textured.

Habitat: Grassy hillsides, gravelly canyon bottoms, chaparral, coastal-sage scrub

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: < 2250 m

Bioregions: SnFrB, SCoRO, SCo, n ChI, WTR, PR

California counties: Ventura, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Riverside, San Bernardino, Alameda, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa, Mono, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Humboldt, Kern, Lassen, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Siskiyou, Shasta, Sierra, Sonoma, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Napa, Lake, Orange, San Mateo, Stanislaus, San Benito, Tehama

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