Ferris’s goldfields

Annuals, to 40 cm. Stems erect, branched distally, glabrous or slightly hairy. Leaves linear, 10–80 × 1–3+ mm, margins entire, faces glabrous. Involucres hemispheric, 5–10 mm. Phyllaries 6–14, ± lanceolate (distinct tips ± deltate), glabrous but for apices. Receptacles ± conic, papillate, glabrous. Ray florets 6–13; (corollas golden yellow to yellow) laminae ± oblong, 6–10 mm. Anther appendages deltate or broadly ovate. Cypselae black, ± clavate, ± flattened, 2–2.5 mm, margins ciliate (hairs whitish or stramineous, curved), faces ± hairy and papillate; pappi 0. 2n = 14.

Flowering Feb–May. Vernal pools and wet alkali flats; 0–700 m; Calif.

R. Ornduff (1966b) suggested that Lasthenia ferrisiae may have originated from hybridization between L. chrysantha and L. glabrata subsp. coulteri; it has morphologic features that are intermediate between the two.