Canyon sunflower is a coarse and leafy, widely-branched perennial shrub rising from a somewhat woody base, mostly glabrous and growing to about 5' tall.  The leaves are alternate, thin and resin-dotted below.  They are also deltoid to ovate in shape, acute- to acuminate-tipped, 3-veined from the base, entire to irregularly toothed, and up to 6" long.  The radiate flower heads are large and showy to 2" across, solitary on the terminal stems or slender elongated peduncles in the upper leaf axils.  The outer bracts of the involucre are foliaceous and spreading, the inner more rounded.  There are 12-21 ray flowers only very slightly toothed and yellow, and many disk flowers with glandular tube bases, also yellow.  Canyon sunflower occupies shaded canyons, moist wooded slopes and streambanks in southern oak woodland, chaparral and coastal sage scrub below 3000', and is common from Baja to c. California, blooming from February to September.  These pictures are from Newton Canyon in the Santa Monica Mts.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Venegasia 2) carpesioides.
Pronunciation: ven-eg-AH-see-a kar-pes-ee-OH-i-dees.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.