Uropappus lindleyi

Silver puffs

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

Silver puffs is a California native annual found throughout California (excluding the North Coast) in open grasslands, woodlands, chaparral, and desert habitats at elevations up to 2,300 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces pale yellow flowers with reddish undersides in heads 10 to 40 millimeters long, with delicate ligules that readily wither. Growing 5 to 70 centimeters tall with erect leafy stems that exude milky sap, it has a distinctive scapose or branching habit. Its leaves are soft-hairy, linear to narrowly lobed, ranging 5 to 30 centimeters long and primarily basal or alternating along the stem. The fruit develops as a slender black seed with a silvery pappus of 5 scales, creating the plant's characteristic "puff" appearance when mature.

Habitat: Common. Open grassland, woodland, chaparral, deserts, generally in loose soils

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 2300 m

Bioregions: CA (exc NCo)

California counties: San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, Kern, Los Angeles, Fresno, Inyo, Monterey, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Marin, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Solano, Stanislaus, Trinity, Tuolumne, Alameda, Butte, Contra Costa, Tulare, Lake, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, Sutter, Colusa, Tehama, Siskiyou, San Joaquin, Yolo, Imperial, Mono, Shasta, Alpine, Lassen

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