This variety of alkali goldenbush is the common one of Kern County and the NW Mojave Desert, and these pictures were taken at Wind Wolves Preserve in the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. What easily characterizes and distinguishes this variety is that the leaves are conspicuously reduced upwards on the stem, and that reduction can easily be seen in these pictures. Formerly in the genus Haplopappus, the Isocomas are fall bloomers, and are shrubby perennials with erect or ascending much-branched stems. The leaves are sometimes toothed. The involucres are closely subtended by bracts that grade into phyllaries, and the phyllaries are positioned in 4-6 series. This variety like its closely related brethren prefers sandy to alkaline soils and grows to about 3000'. The varieties are known to intergrade.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Isocoma 2) acradenia 3) bracteosa.
Pronunciation: eye-so-KO-ma ak-ra-DEE-nee-a brak-tee-OH-sa.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.