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Lasthenia californica

slender goldfields

California goldfields, slender goldfields

Habit Plants annual, 2–36 cm; taproots slender.
Stems

usually strigillose.

Leaves

linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 3–70 × 0.2–2 mm;

margins entire, often strigose-ciliate;

tips acute;

surfaces glabrous or strigillose.

Involucres

fusiform to campanulate, 3–6 mm;

surfaces strigose.

Ray florets

4–15, conspicuous;

corollas 2–10 mm, yellow.

Disc florets

2–30+;

corollas 2–4 mm, yellow;

stamens exserted;

styles exserted.

Phyllaries

3–12, not united, lanceolate;

tips acute.

Fruits

2–3 mm; black or gray, glabrous or strigillose, pappi of 0–7 brown or white aristate awns, 2–5 mm.

Heads

radiate;

peduncles 1–18 cm;

surfaces strigillose.

2n

=16, 32, 48.

Lasthenia californica

Lasthenia californica ssp. californica

Distribution
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Open woodlands, shrublands, rocky slopes, grasslands, near vernal pools. Flowering Apr–May. 0–900 m. CR, Sisk. CA. Native.

Plants of L. californica are subject to extreme reduction in size when growing in thin, dry soil.

Source Flora of Oregon, volume 2, page 300
Kenton Chambers
Sibling taxa
L. glaberrima, L. maritima, L. ornduffii
Subordinate taxa
L. californica ssp. californica
Synonyms Baeria chrysostoma ssp. chrysostoma, Baeria chrysostoma ssp. gracilis, Baeria chrysostoma var. gracilis
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