Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Lessingia virgata is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name wand lessingia. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the eastern side of the Central Valley and adjacent Sierra Nevada foothills. 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 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 with a whitish pappus on top.

Plant type

Annual herb

Size

2 ft Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Pink, Purple

Plant communities

Valley Grassland

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 1 likely

Confirmed Likely

Cucullia incresa