Isocoma menziesii (Hook. & Arn.) G. Nesom var. menziesii =Haplopappus venetus ssp. furfuraceus Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Native Goldenbush

                                   September Photo

Plant Characteristics: Perennial, less than 2 m. tall, 1.5-2.3 m. in diam.; stems erect, decumbent or prostrate, branched at base, glabrous, scabrous, or tomentose, upper gray, green, tan or red, resinous; lvs. clustered in axils or not, not fleshy, to 4.5 cm. with three or four teeth but most shorter, linear to spatulate, glabrous, scabrous or tomentose;  involucre 8-10 mm., 5-8 mm. diam; phyllaries 20-32 in 3-6 series, 6mm. long, green 1/3 total length, lanceolate, tips acute, resinous; fls 12-22.

Habitat: Soils from sandstone to granite, landward side of dunes, hillsides, arroyos; below 1200 m.  Southern coast, southern Channel Islands, peninsular ranges, Baja Calif.

Name: Greek, equal hair-tuft, from the fls. (Hickman, Ed. 294).  The species name is in honor of Archibald Menzies (1754-1842). Surgeon and naturalist to Vancouver’s Pacific Coast expedition.  (Jaeger 313).

General:  After I began to restudy the genus Isocoma, I found that this variety is moderately common in the study area.  I had been told some years ago that I. menziesii var. vernonioides was the only variety in the Upper Bay.  I revisited a plant that I had studied several years ago because it looked different and keyed it to var. menziesii, then as I began to look around; I found several more plants, mostly smaller and erect.  Characteristics of the revisited plant are: stems to 2 m. long, decumbent or curved downward, tan, resinous; lvs. mostly glabrous with a resinous exudate, the lower to 6.5 cm., spatulate with 3 or 4 teeth; invol. +/- 7mm., 3.5-4 mm. in diam., green 1/3 the total length; phyllary tips lanceolate, acute.  My specimen is much larger than Haplopappus venetus ssp. furfuraceus as described in Munz, Flora So. Calif. 181. (my comments).       Roberts in his 1998 A Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Orange County, California lists I.  menziesii var. decumbens and states that it is I. menziesii var. menziesii in part and equal to Haplopappus venetus ssp. furfuraceus.  Roberts does not list var. menziesii.  Roberts further states that var. decumbens is rare and has a CNPS ranking of 1B.  A 1B ranking means that the plant is rare throughout its range and occurs primarily within California.     I. menziesii var. menziesii previously known as Haplopappus venetus ssp. furfuraceus (E. Greene) H.M. Hall.  (Hickman, Ed. 295).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 295; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 181; Roberts Second Edition 1998, 19.

Photo Ref:  Sept 1 86 # 23,24,24A; Sept-Oct 2000 #19,20,21,22.  

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by John Johnson.

First Found:  September 1986.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 525.

Plant specimen to UC Riverside in 2004.

Last edit 5/8/05.

                              September Photo                                                                          September Photo