San Diego Milk-aster or Stephanomeria digensis This plant is a fire-follower or at least thrives in burned areas. The flowers on this Annual herb are found in hues from pale pink to lavendar to purple or white. Pistils and Stamens are present in this flower. The filaments are bi-colored with the upper part being a lighter or darker variation of the flower and the lower part being white. These flowers are still blooming long after most others have finished their work. They are easy to recognize by their long rigid pole like stems - dotted with small flowers.
This plant is a member of the Aster Family. What we call a flower is actually a composite: the flower head is made up of ray flowers (think petals) and disk flowers.
There are several flowers that are similar:
Whiteplume Wirelettuce - Stephanomeria exigua, 5-6 ray flowers per flower head
Tejon Milk-Aster - Stephanomeria cichoriacea, 13 or more ray flowers per flower head
Twiggy Wreath Plan t-Stephanomeria virgata.5-8 ray flowers per flower head
One way to differentiate is to count the ray flowers. San Diego Milk-aster usually has more. This is not foolproof because of the amount of variability/overlap - if you were a Botanist you might take into account the the following from Jepson Guide -> Annual species complexly interrelated, distinguished by different combinations or expressions of same traits; mature fruits and pappus needed for identification. A thorough discussion of the differences is found on this web page. Read more about the technical differences. Hint you are going to need a microscope and access to the fruits from this plant. Another thing to note is that the flowers are "stalkless" and grow directly from the branch.
The leaves of this plant are long gone by the time there are flowers. The leaves alternate on the trunk and are between four and eight inches long. Leaves are oblong and have a wavy margin. Milt's guide says this flowers from July to September. I saw these flowers along the Ranch Center Road in Pt. Mugu State Park.
Name Origin:
Stephanomer'ia: derived from the Greek stephane, "wreath or crown," and meros, "division".
diegen'sis: of or from San Diego
Found on CalFlora.net a wonderful site for native plant information.
San Diego Milk-aster - Originally featured: June 2014 Last modified: July 20 2017 15:09:33.
References:
Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains, by Milt McAuley Flowering Plants: The Santa Monica Mountains, Coastal and Chaparral Regions of Southern California, by Nancy Dale Chumash Ethnobotany: Plant Knowledge Among the Chumash People.., by Jan Timbrook
