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Gutierrezia californica (DC.)
Torrey & A. Gray |
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| California matchweed
is a sprawling to erect subshrub growing to about 2' tall. The flowering
heads are usually solitary at the ends of the branchlets. Matchweed
inhabits dry hills and flats, stony slopes and outcrops and occasionally
serpentine soils in chaparral and grassland, and ranges across the Western
Transverse Range, Peninsular Range and San Gabriel Mountains to elevations
of 3500', blooming from May to October. This sunflower family member
hybridizes with Gutierrezia sarothrae but can be differentiated
on the basis of the number of flowering heads on each branchlet, generally
only 1 for californica and 2-5 for sarothrae. Matchweed
is sometimes referred to as snakeweed. Pictures taken at Vasquez
Rocks County Park in August, 2002. Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Gutierrezia 2) californica. Pronunciation: goo-tee-er-EE-zee-a ka-li-FOR-ni-ka. Click here for Botanical Term Meanings. |
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