Stylocline sonorensis

Mesquite neststraw

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2A

Mesquite neststraw is a rare (CNPS 2A) California native annual found in the Sonoran Desert in sandy drainages around Hayfield, Riverside County at elevations around 400 meters. Flowering from March to April, this plant produces tiny white to cream-colored flower heads nearly spherical and woolly, approximately 3.5 to 4.5 millimeters in diameter. Growing with delicate stems 2 to 10 centimeters tall, it forms compact, low-growing clusters. Its leaves are distinctive, with proximal leaves obtuse and distal leaves acute, ranging 3 to 10 millimeters long and 2 to 3 millimeters wide, approximately elliptic to narrowly ovate. The fruit is small, compressed laterally, with 3 to 8 disk pappus bristles measuring 0.9 to 1.3 millimeters long.

Habitat: Sandy drainages with

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: +- 400 m.

Bioregions: DSon (Hayfield, Riverside Co., Apr 1930, presumed extirpated)

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