Venegasia carpesioides

Canyon sunflower

Family: Asteraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Canyon sunflower is a California native shrub found in the central Coast Ranges, southwestern California, and southern California coastal ranges in moist, wooded canyon habitats at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from February to July, this plant produces bright yellow ray flowers 15 to 30 millimeters long in radiate heads 1 to 3 centimeters in diameter. Growing 50 to 150 centimeters tall with several stems that are slightly hairy, it forms a distinctive multi-branched shrub. Its alternate leaves are triangular-ovate, 3 to 15 centimeters long, with subtle teeth along the edges and tiny resin dots on the undersides. The fruit is a small, slightly curved dark brown cylinder about 2 to 3 millimeters long with subtle ribs.

Habitat: Canyons, moist, wooded slopes

Bloom period: Generally Feb-Jul

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: CCo, SCoRO, SW

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