Bush Sunflower

Bush sunflower (or California encelia, Encelia californica) is one of the dominant species in our coastal sage scrub vegetation. Like many plants in the Reserve, they may are seasonally dimorphic, shedding large winter leaves during the dry summer months. But when the winter rains begin, bush sunflower brightens the Reserve with cheerful, dark-eyed yellow “daisies”.

This is a good plant for the home garden. With a little supplemental water through the summer, it will remain green and produce flowers throughout the year. The plant can be severely pruned back in the fall every year or two to keep it compact.

Description ^2,4,23,59

Bush sunflower is a rounded perennial shrub, usually less than 5 feet (1.5 m) in height. When not crowded, it may be as wide as or wider than high. Branches long, pale, often curved into a tangled mass; they are brittle, giving rise to one alternate name, California brittlebush.

Leaves are green, covered with very short hairs. They are usually 1¼-2½ inches (3-6 cm) long, ovate to elliptic, tapered to a narrow tip; they may be heart shaped at the base. Margins are smooth or finely toothed. Three prominent veins extend out from the base.²³Foliage has a strong, characteristic odor, difficult to describe – a bit like cut green grass.

Flower heads are “daisies” with a purplish brown eye of disk florets (the delicate coloring can best be seen through a magnifying lens), surrounded by 15-25 bright yellow ray florets, which may be blunt or lobed at the tip. One to a few flower heads are produced from a long, loosely branched stem; flower heads extend above the foliage. The main bloom period is February through June,¹ but single flower heads may be found throughout the year, especially where a little water is available.

Unlike many related species, the seeds of bush sunflower lack the pappus that act as parachutes, facilitating wind-dispersal of seeds. Instead the flattened seeds have a dense fringe of short hairs along the edges and sparse hairs on the flat surfaces. Presumably seeds are spread by birds and mammals.

Classification ^2,11

Ecology

Like many of the species in the coastal sage scrub, bush sunflower is seasonally dimorphic. Large leaves produced during the winter are replaced by much smaller leaves during the drought conditions of summer and fall.⁶ Leaf area of the summer leaves are of the order of 10% that of the larger ones.⁶ Under prolonged water-stress, even the summer leaves are shed and the plant goes dormant.⁵⁹ There is some evidence that smaller leaves are more resistant to grazing.⁶

Human Uses

The Gabrielino Indians of the Los Angeles Basin boiled all parts of the plant into a thick paste that was used to relieve aching joints and toothaches. The stems were chewed as a breath freshener.²⁹²

In spite of the abundance of bush sunflower, we found only this one report of use by Native Americans. This is ironic because the genus is named after a German naturalist, Christoph Entzelt, (1517 – 1584) who wrote about the medicinal uses of plants and animal parts.²¹

Bush sunflower is often encountered in native plant gardens. If dead-headed regularly and given some water during the summer, it produces flowers all year. It looks best if pruned back hard occasionally. It is also used in revegetation projects, especially on bluffs to control erosion.^24,79,292

Interesting Facts

The Kumeyaay name for bush sunflower was Nahekwi which means “it watches the sun.”¹⁶