Baccharis salicifolia
Baccharis malibuensis
mule's fat, mule-fat, seepwillow, water wally
Malibu baccharis, Malibu baccharis or coyote brush
spreading to ascending, green to tan, simple proximally, sparingly branched distally, striate-angled, glabrous or minutely hairy, resinous and ± resin-varnished.
erect to arching, striate-angled, glabrous or sparsely villous distally (hairs short, spreading).
present at flowering (abundant, well developed);
sessile or petiolate;
blades lanceolate-elliptic, slightly falcate (willowlike), 30–150 × 3–20 mm, bases attenuate, margins usually finely serrate from bases to apices, sometimes entire, apices acute to acuminate, faces glabrous, gland-dotted, ± resinous.
present at flowering (sparse); short-petiolate;
blades (1- or 3-nerved) linear to linear-oblanceolate, (15–)20–45(–65) × 1–4(–5) mm, bases narrowly attenuate, margins entire or weakly serrate, apices acute or acuminate (crustose);
faces glabrous or sometimes sparsely pilose (hairs 2-seriate), adaxial gland-dotted (in pits; distal leaves reduced, crowded).
hemispheric; staminate 3–6 mm, pistillate involucres 3–6 mm.
turbinate; staminate ca. 5 mm, pistillate ca. 5 mm.
50–150;
corollas 2–3.5 mm.
35–38;
corollas 2.2–4.2 mm.
(10–)17–48;
corollas 4–6 mm.
23–36;
corollas 3.7–4.5 mm.
ovate to lanceolate, 2–4 mm, margins scarious, erose or irregularly dentate, midribs distinct, medians green or reddish, apices (greenish or brownish purple) obtuse to acuminate (pale and dry, glabrous).
linear-lanceolate, 2–5 mm, margins yellowish white, scarious, medians green, apices becoming brown with age, ciliate distally.
in terminal, compound corymbiform arrays (often involving distal branches).
in cylindric paniculiform arrays.
0.8–1.5 mm, 5-nerved, glabrous;
pappi 3–6 mm.
2.4–3 mm, 5-nerved, faces with thick, irregular, glandlike hairs;
pappi 6.5–7.5 mm.
= 18, 36.
Baccharis salicifolia
Baccharis malibuensis
Baccharis salicifolia is part of a complex that extends through the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and South America to Argentina and Chile (J. Cuatrecasas 1968). It is recognized by the narrowly lanceolate, willowlike, finely serrate leaves with acute or acuminate apices, smallish heads in dense clusters, reddish phyllaries, and 5-nerved cypselae. By tagging and measuring individual plants throughout the year, D. H. Wilken (1972) demonstrated that B. salicifolia has distinct seasonal forms. The North American plants were once known as B. glutinosa or B. viminea, which were differentiated from each other by differences in woodiness, leaf size and serration, and flowering time.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Of conservation concern.
Baccharis malibuensis is known only from the Malibu Creek drainage area in the Santa Monica Mountains (Los Angeles County). It is distinguished by its narrow, often conduplicate and glabrate leaves, cylindric arrays, and summer flowering. According to Beauchamp and Henrickson, it appears to be closely related to and possibly derived from B. plummerae, from which it differs primarily in leaf size, teeth, and indument.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
OR
CalFlora
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
