Tetradymia comosa

Cotton thorn

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Cotton thorn is a California native shrub found in southern California coastal regions, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in coastal scrub and chaparral at elevations of 100 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from June to November, this plant produces yellow flowers in clusters of 3 to 6 heads approximately 8 millimeters wide. Growing with stems 30 to 120 centimeters tall that are densely woolly and somewhat spiny, it develops a distinctive tomentose growth habit. Its leaves are narrowly lanceolate, becoming rigid and spine-tipped, generally 2 to 6 centimeters long and covered in soft white hairs. The fruit is approximately 4 millimeters long with long, white, pappus-like hairs.

Habitat: Coastal scrub, chaparral

Bloom period: Jun-Nov

Elevation: 100-1400 m

Bioregions: SCo, TR, PR

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