Verbesina dissita

Big-leaved crownbeard

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1 · Threatened

Big-leaved crownbeard is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native perennial found in southern coastal California, including Orange County and the San Bernardino Mountains, on shrubby coastal slopes at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces distinctive orange-yellow ray flowers 12 to 25 millimeters long in flat-topped clusters with 3 to 16 flower heads. Growing 1 to 1.5 meters tall with glabrous stems that may be short-hairy near the flower clusters, it develops generally opposite leaves with ovate blades that are entire or have a few short teeth. Its leaves are glabrous to densely scabrous, ranging from green to rough-textured with a single prominent vein from the base. The fruit is dark brown, approximately 8 to 9 millimeters long, with a thin brown wing and two short awns.

Habitat: shrubby coastal slopes

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: s SCo (Orange Co.), naturalized SnBr

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