''Lepidospartum squamatum'' is a species of flowering

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

in the

daisy family 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 names California broomsage and scale broom.

Distribution

''Lepidospartum squamatum'' is native to the mountains, valleys, and deserts of central and southern California, and Baja California. It grows in sandy, gravelly soils in a number of habitat types, especially dry alluvial habitat such as

arroyo Arroyo often refers to: * Arroyo (creek), an intermittently dry creek Arroyo may also refer to: People * Arroyo (surname) Places United States ;California * Arroyo Burro Beach, a public beach park in Santa Barbara County, California * Arroyo ...

s.Hanes, T.L., et al. (1989)
Alluvial scrub vegetation in coastal southern CaliforniaUS Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-110Archived
2011-08-05 at the Wayback Machine It is considered an

indicator species A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

for the alluvial scrub habitat type in this region. It is also commonly found in neighboring Arizona.

Description

''Lepidospartum squamatum'' is a large shrub often exceeding two meters in height which takes a spreading, rounded form, its branches are coated in woolly fibers and stubby leaves no more than 3 millimeters long. These drought adaptations support flowering during hot summers when many plants are dormant, making it an important resource for pollinators. The inflorescence is a single flower head or small cluster of up to 5 heads at the ends of branches. The heads are discoid, bearing many yellow tubular disc florets and no ray florets. The fruit is a narrow

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 ...

a few millimeters long with a dull white to light brown pappus on top. While in bloom, scale broom will attract a wide variety of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, moths, and tarantula hawk wasps. As the fruits mature and the flower parts fall away the inflorescence takes on a cottony look due to all the pappi.

References

External links

*
Jepson Manual Treatment — ''Lepidospartum squamatum''Flora of North America''Lepidospartum squamatum'' — Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6527690 Senecioneae Flora of California Flora of Baja California Flora of Arizona Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora of the California desert regions Flora without expected TNC conservation status