''Lessingia virgata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

known by the common name wand lessingia. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it is known from the eastern side of the Central Valley and adjacent

Sierra Nevada foothills :''See Sierra Nevada for general information about the mountain range in the United States.'' The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant ...

. It is a woolly, glandular annual herb growing up to about 60 centimeters tall with slender, spreading branches. The upper leaves are no more than a centimeter long, while the lower ones are longer and sometimes divided into lobes or teeth. The

flower heads A pseudanthium (Greek for "false flower"; ) is an inflorescence that resembles a flower. The word is sometimes used for other structures that are neither a true flower nor a true inflorescence. Examples of pseudanthia include flower heads, compos ...

appear singly in leaf axils, each lined with purple-tipped, glandular, woolly phyllaries. The head is discoid, containing no ray florets but a few tubular light lavender to nearly white disc florets with long, narrow lobes. The fruit is an

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

with a whitish pappus on top.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants ProfileFlora of North AmericaPhoto gallery
virgata Endemic flora of California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Astereae-stub