California goldenbush, heather goldenweed

Diplopappus ericoides Lessing, Linnaea 6: 117. 1831; Haplopappus ericoides (Lessing) Hooker & Arnott; H. ericoides subsp. blakei C. B. Wolf

Plants 30–150 cm. Stems ascending to erect, green when young, fastigiately branched, glabrous or sparsely hairy, resinous. Leaves ascending to spreading; blades filiform (terete or adaxially sulcate), 3–18(–23) × 0.3–1 mm, midnerves obscure, apices acute, often mucronate, faces glabrous or hairy, gland-dotted (in circular, deep pits), resinous; axillary fascicles of 2–12 leaves, shorter than subtending leaves. Heads in cymiform to paniculiform arrays (2–9 cm wide). Peduncles 1–30 mm (bracts 4+, leaflike). Involucres subcampanulate, 5–8 × 2.5–4.5 mm. Phyllaries 16–24 in 3–5 series, mostly tan, ovate to elliptic, 2.5–7 × 0.6–1.5 mm, unequal, outer ± herbaceous or herbaceous-appendaged, mid and inner mostly chartaceous, midnerves raised, subapical resin ducts darker, ± thickened, expanded apically, (margins ciliate) apices erect, acute to acuminate or mucronate to cuspidate, abaxial faces glabrous or sparsely hairy. Ray florets 2–6; laminae 4–6 × 1–2 mm. Disc florets 5–14; corollas 5.5–8 mm. Cypselae tan to brown, subcylindric, 2.5–4 mm (ribs 8–10), glabrous or hairy, more densely distally; pappi off-white to brown, 5–7 mm. 2n = 18.

Flowering late summer–fall, occasionally in spring. Sand dunes or sand hills along and near coast; 0–500 m; Calif.

Ericameria ericoides ranges from Los Angeles to Sonoma counties.