Ghostly rubber rabbitbrush, aka white ghost, is another member of our local rubber rabbitbrush community, albeit one that prefers a deserty or at least dry environment. The name reveals much about this large-growing shrub which especially in its non-
flowering stage exhibits a dusty white face to the viewer. It retains its leaves largely through anthesis and is characterized by having erect corolla lobes. It has been my experience that this shrub rarely exceeds 6' in height, although the Jepson Manual says 8+'. The leaves according to Munz and Jepson range from 1 to 7cm in length, and they are narrowly lanceolate and gray- to white-tomentose. The involucres are about 1/4" long, with woolly, keeled phyllaries that have fairly obtuse tips. The corollas approach 3/8" in length, and have very characteristically erect or even bent inward lobes. The Jepson Manual says this ssp. prefers well-drained granitic or limestone soils, and is present in the Tehachapis, the West Transverse Range and the western ends of the Colorado and Mojave Deserts, blooming from September to November. This sub-species has both a white form and a green form (which Edward Greene called ssp. gnaphalodes), and it is the white form in particular which has the ghostly appearance, especially in a certain type of light. The white and green forms can often be seen right next to each other, and usually where one form is present the other can be found not far away. The last two pictures show both forms together. These pictures were taken along the Pearblossom Highway where it can line the sides of the road, on the Angeles Forest Highway, and in the drainage of Big Rock Creek.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Ericameria  2) nauseosa  3) hololeuca.
Pronunciation: er-ik-a-MEER-ee-a naw-zee-OH-sa ho-lo-LYOO-ka.
Formerly Chrysothamnus nauseosus ssp. hololeucus.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.