| Baccharis malibuensis | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
|
Critically Imperiled (NatureServe) |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Tribe: | Astereae |
| Genus: | Baccharis |
| Species: | B. malibuensis |
| Binomial name | |
| Baccharis malibuensis R.M. Beauch. & J. Henrickson |
|
Baccharis malibuensis is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name Malibu baccharis. It is endemic to Los Angeles County, California, where it is known from only six occurrences in the Malibu Creek drainage in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu.[1] It grows in chaparral, coastal sage scrub, and oak woodlands. Most of the occurrences contain fewer than 200 individual plants.[1] The species was described to science only in 1995.[2]
This is a shrub growing 40 centimeters to over a meter in height, and known to exceed 2 meters at times. The erect stems have a woody base and are mostly hairless, but may be sparsely hairy near the ends of the branches. The narrow, widely-spaced leaves are linear or lance-shaped and smooth-edged or slightly serrated, and measure 1.5 to 6.5 centimeters in length but only a few millimeters in width. They are glandular and hairless or with few hairs. The inflorescence is an elongated cluster of many flower heads containing twenty to thirty or more male or female flowers. The fruit is a hairy achene tipped with a plumelike white pappus about 7 millimeters long.
Threats to this species include off-road vehicles and urban development.[1]