Stylocline citroleum

Oil neststraw

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1

Oil neststraw is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native annual found in southern San Joaquin Valley and southern coastal California (now extirpated) in open, stable sandy or clay areas and dry drainage edges at elevations of 60 to 300 meters. Flowering from March to April, this plant produces small, woolly spherical heads with dull flowers 4 to 5.5 millimeters in diameter. Growing as a compact plant 2 to 9 centimeters tall with delicate stems, it develops relatively small leaves that are elliptic to widely oblanceolate, measuring 4 to 12 millimeters long. Its leaves are slightly acute with a small point (mucronate), with the largest distal leaves 2 to 3.5 millimeters wide. The fruit is compressed laterally, approximately 0.8 to 1 millimeter long, with 6 to 12 tiny disk pappus bristles.

Habitat: Open, stable, often crusted sand, clay, dry drainage edges, between

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: 60-300 m

Bioregions: s SnJV, s SCo (extirpated).

California counties: Kern, San Diego

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