Xylorhiza tortifolia var. tortifolia

Mojave-aster

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mojave-aster is a California native perennial herb found in southern Sierra Nevada and desert regions in desert slopes, canyons, woodland, and creosote-bush scrub at elevations of 240 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from March to June and again in October, this plant produces lavender, light blue, or white ray flowers 1 to 3.3 centimeters long with distinctive ray arrangements. Growing with a much-branched woody caudex, it develops erect stems 20 to 60 centimeters tall covered in long, nonglandular hairs and shorter stalked glands. Its leaves range from 2.5 to 10 centimeters long, linear to lanceolate in shape, with acute or spine-tipped edges that are slightly spiny-dentate and softly hairy. The plant produces fruits 3 to 6 millimeters long with pappus bristles up to 9 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Desert slopes, canyons, woodland, creosote-bush and saltbush scrub

Bloom period: Mar-Jun, Oct

Elevation: 240-2000 m

Bioregions: s SNE, D

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