Tetradymia glabrata

Little leaf horsebrush

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Little leaf horsebrush is a California native shrub found in the Great Basin and western Mojave Desert regions in desert scrub, pinyon/juniper, and Joshua-tree woodland at elevations of 700 to 2,400 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces cream to golden yellow flowers in clusters of 3 to 7 heads approximately 7 to 10 millimeters long. Growing up to 1.2 meters tall with unevenly tomentose stems that become nearly smooth in stripes below the nodes, it has an open, distinctive branching structure. Its leaves are characteristically sparse, with main leaves 5 to 10 millimeters long, narrowly awl-shaped and ascending, and clustered leaves thread-like to slightly club-shaped. The fruit is 3 to 4 millimeters long with glandular ribs and a pappus of fine bristles 6 to 8 millimeters long.

Habitat: Desert scrub, pinyon/juniper or Joshua-tree woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 700-2400 m

Bioregions: GB, w DMoj

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