Tetradymia axillaris

Catclaw horsebrush

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Catclaw horsebrush is a California native shrub found in desert and montane regions at elevations ranging from low to moderate heights. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces pale yellow flowers in small clusters of 1 to 3 heads approximately 7 to 9 millimeters long. Growing as a spiny shrub up to 15 decimeters tall, it features evenly tomentose stems with distinctive straight spine-like leaves. Its leaves are complex, with main leaves 1 to 5 centimeters long that form sharp spines and become progressively less hairy with age, while clustered leaves are short, thread-like, and nearly smooth. The fruit is densely covered in long white hairs, with approximately 25 slender scales forming its distinctive pappus.

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