Rhagadiolus stellatus

Endive daisy

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Endive daisy is a naturalized annual found in southern North Coast Ranges (Napa County) and northern San Francisco Bay in disturbed places at elevations below 350 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white flowers in small heads 5 to 8 millimeters wide with distinctive star-shaped fruit structures. Growing with sparsely hairy stems 7 to 40 centimeters tall, it has an open, spreading growth habit. Its leaves are 2.5 to 14 centimeters long, oblong to obovate with sparsely toothed edges and a prominent terminal lobe. The fruit develops curved outer segments 10 to 15 millimeters long that spread with attached phyllaries to create an intriguing star-like formation.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed places

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 350 m

Bioregions: s NCoRO (Napa Co.), n SnFrB

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