Stylocline micropoides
Desert neststraw, woollyhead fanbract, Woollyhead Fanbract
Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native
Desert neststraw is a California native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada, northern and eastern Mojave Desert, and Sonoran Desert regions in generally stable sandy or gravelly habitats at elevations of 70 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces small whitish flowers in woolly, spheric heads approximately 5 to 9 millimeters in diameter. Growing with delicate stems 2 to 14 centimeters tall, it forms compact, low-growing clusters across desert landscapes. Its leaves are distinctive, with the largest distal leaves 11 to 17 millimeters long and 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters wide, typically awl-shaped to lanceolate with acute, mucronate tips. The fruit is compressed laterally, small, and measures 1 to 1.4 millimeters long with 2 to 5 disk pappus bristles.
Habitat: Generally stable sand or gravel, often rock bases or drip lines
Bloom period: Feb-May
Elevation: 70-1600 m
Bioregions: s SNE, n&e DMoj, DSon, DSon/PR
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.