Kingdom Plantae Family Asteraceae Tribe Heliantheae Rank Species | Order Asterales Subfamily Asteroideae Genus Deinandra | |
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Similar Deinandra, Hemizonia, Deinandra fasciculata, Deinandra conjugens, Holocarpha macradenia | ||
Deinandra minthornii — (syn. Hemizonia minthornii) — is a rare California species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name Santa Susana tarplant, or Santa Susana tarweed. It is an endangered species, listed as a Threatened species by the California Department of Fish and Game, as Imperiled under the California Endangered Species Act—CESA, and on the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California.
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Distribution
Deinandra minthornii (Hemizonia minthornii) is endemic from the Santa Susana Mountains, through the Simi Hills, to the Santa Monica Mountains of the southwestern Transverse Ranges, in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, Southern California.
This plant grows in the coastal sage scrub and chaparral habitats of the coastal sage and chaparral, and the chaparral habitat of the adjacent inland the montane chaparral and woodlands. It can be found on rocky outcroppings and in sandstone crevices, from 300–500 metres (980–1,640 ft) in elevation. There are about 20 occurrences of the plant, but several have not been observed recently.
Description
Deinandra minthornii is a shrub or subshrub growing 15 centimetres (5.9 in) to 1 metre (3.3 ft) in height. The stems are hairy, glandular, and leafy. The thick leaves are linear, smooth-edged or with a few teeth. They are glandular and hairy to bristly.
The phyllaries lining the flower heads are coated in glands. The head contains four to eight yellow ray florets and several yellow disc florets.