Syntrichopappus fremontii

Fremont's syntrichopappus

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Fremont's syntrichopappus is a California native annual found in the Mojave Desert and southwestern Sonoran Desert regions in open, sandy to gravelly areas within scrub and woodland at elevations of 600 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces yellow ray flowers 3 to 5 millimeters long with distinctive green peduncles. Growing with stems that are decumbent to erect and reaching approximately 20 centimeters tall, it has a variable growth habit ranging from spreading to upright. Its leaves are uniquely shaped, with proximal leaves wedge-shaped and distal leaves spoon-shaped, typically 5 to 20 millimeters long with tips that are often three-lobed or entire. The fruit is covered in strigose hairs and bears 30 to 40 pappus bristles approximately 2 millimeters long.

Habitat: Open, sandy to gravelly areas in scrub or woodland

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: 600-2500 m

Bioregions: DMoj, sw DSon

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