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| Baccharis pilularis |
| Family: Asteraceae (Aster) |
| Flowers — color: white, size: 1/4", type: daisy (compound) |
Each Coyote Bush holds either all male or all female flowers that often bloom in autumn. The male flowers have a rounded shape and hold many disk flowers. These flowers are roughly 1/4" diameter and have yellow stamens. The female flowers are a 1/2" long cylinder of fluff, resembling a home-made whisk broom. Several blooms cluster at the end of branches. The fluff spreads out when the seeds ripen to help disperse the seeds.
Habit: The shrub Coyote Bush grows taller than wide. Each vertical stem has branching stems every inch or so, and the plant sets more vertical stems as it ages. The small dark leaves are shaped like snowshoes and have a smooth surface. The leaf end is rounded, and it has one or more teeth along each edge. This hearty shrub is becoming a tenacious weed in some of the unirrigated landscapes of our neighborhoods. My neighbor loves it because the deer won't touch it. Likes open sunny areas in the scrub or chaparral.