Leucosyris carnosa
CA: Inyo Co., alkali flats bordering dunes
Sarcobatus in background
26 Aug 2009.

Leucosyris carnosa
CA: Inyo Co., Olancha Rd, edge of dry lake
Oct 2007.  Stems smooth.

Trees and Shrubs of Kern County (Sep 2012, Dec 2013)

Leucosyris carnosa (Linosyris carnosa A. Gray 1853) Greene 1897.  [Also, Arida carnosa (A. Gray) D. R. Morgan & R. L. Hartman 2003; Bigelowia carnosa (A. Gray) Bentham & Hooker 1873; Macheranthera carnosa (A. Gray) G. Nesom 1989. Includes: Bigelowia intricata A. Gray 1882, Aster intricatus (A. Gray) S. F. Blake 1937]. Shrubby alkali aster.  Much like Bebbia juncea except for the stems being smooth to the touch, densely and intricately branched, appearing leafless; initial leaves alternate, narrow linear, bristle tipped, to 20× longer than wide, to 2 cm long, soon deciduous, later leaves scale-like, <1 cm; flowering Jul–Oct; flowers yellow, disc type, 5–20 within a funnelform head surrounded by broadly sword-shaped bracts overlapping in four series. Cypsela with brownish bristles longer than the hairy 15–20 nerved pericarpium 2.5–3.5 mm.  Generally scattered locations near alkali lakes below 5,000 ft., San Joaquin Valley and deserts to southern Nevada and western and southern Arizona. Type from Lancaster, CA.  Kern Co.: Rosamond (Dry Lake); Lancaster; Edwards AFB (Rogers Lake); 3 mi west of Arvin; 10 mi west of Delano; Koehn Dry Lake; Box Canyon, 106–838 m (CCH). The genus "revived” and “expanded to include nine species from the southwestern USA and northern Mexico”; “Arida reduced to synonym of Leucosyris” with eight new combinations made by Pruski and Hartman (2012).

Pruski. J.F. and R.L. Hartman. 2012. Synopsis of Leucosyris, including synonymous Arida (Compositae: Astereae).  Phytoneuron 98: 1–15.