Tidestromia suffruticosa var. oblongifolia

Honeysweet

Family: Amaranthaceae · Type: annual · Native

Honeysweet is a California native annual found in the Mojave Desert bioregion in dry washes, rocky hillsides, and sandy or slightly alkaline soils at elevations up to 1,200 meters. Flowering from April to December, this plant produces yellow to yellow-brown flowers tiny and delicate, nestled among persistently gray-white papery leaves. Growing with ascending or decumbent woolly stems 10 to 60 centimeters tall, it spreads across the desert landscape with a distinctive soft, pale appearance. Its leaves are oblong to narrowly ovate, 10 to 50 millimeters long, with a distinctive heart-shaped base and a persistent gray-white coloration. The tiny fruits are just 1 to 2 millimeters long, reflecting the plant's delicate desert adaptation.

Habitat: dry washes, rocky hillsides, sandy or slightly alkaline soils

Bloom period: Apr-Dec

Elevation: < 1200 m

Bioregions: D

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, Inyo, San Diego

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