Sphaeromeria cana
Gray chickensage
Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native
Gray chickensage is a California native perennial found in central Sierra Nevada Mountains, Sierra Nevada, and northern Desert Mountains in rocky places, ledges, and talus at elevations of 1,800 to 4,000 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces white or cream-colored flowers in dense clusters of 3 to 12 heads. Growing with leafy stems 15 to 60 centimeters tall that branch from the base, it forms a compact, bushy appearance. Its leaves vary from 10 to 40 millimeters long, with basal and lower stem leaves typically having 3 to 4 lobes, while upper leaves remain entire. The plant's disk flowers have soft-hairy corolla lobes, giving it a distinctive textured appearance.
Habitat: Uncommon. Rocky places, ledges, ridges, talus
Bloom period: Jul-Sep
Elevation: 1800-4000 m
Bioregions: c&s SNH, SNE, n DMtns
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.