Senecio quadridentatus

Cotton burnweed

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Cotton burnweed is a naturalized perennial herb found in western Transverse Ranges and southern Coastal regions in disturbed areas of chaparral and coastal scrub at elevations below 570 meters. Flowering from January to July, this plant produces light yellow-green flower heads clustered in flat-topped arrangements with up to 200 individual heads. Growing 40 to 120 centimeters tall with multiple stems emerging from a taproot, it develops gray-tomentose stems that become somewhat glabrous with age. Its leaves are linear or lance-linear, 2.5 to 20 centimeters long and extremely narrow, with remotely minute teeth and margins slightly rolled under. The fruit is small, 2.5 to 3 millimeters long and covered with fine hairs between its ribbed surface.

Habitat: Disturbed areas in chaparral, coastal scrub

Bloom period: Jan-Jul

Elevation: < 570 m

Bioregions: WTR, SCo

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