Plant of the Month (June) : California everlasting – Pseudognaphalium californicum ~ Tk-123456

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum) in Mother Nature's Garden of Health

Some
plants remain where you plant them; others move around in the garden. The movers are those plants – often annuals
or perennials – that re-seed where ever conditions are suitable. Rather than fighting it, we let the movers
pop up (within reason) in different places each year, adding an element of
spontaneity to the gardens. One such
plant is the California everlasting, Pseudognaphalium
californicum (pronounced soo-doe-nah-FAY-lee-um cal-ee-FOR-ni-cum).

The
Everlastings are an interesting and useful group of plants in the Sunflower
family (Asteraceae). Also called Cudweeds, they are common plants
of temperate regions. In the western U.S., they are often herbaceous plants
with hairy foliage and rather plain flower heads. The floral bracts remain on the plant after
flowering, making these ‘everlasting flowers’ useful in dried flower
arrangements. Several Everlasting species
are used in traditional medicine, most commonly for sciatica.

In
California, the most common Everlastings are classified in three genera: Logfila (the Cottonrose genus), Gnaphalium (the Cudweed genus) and Pseudognaphalium (Cudweed or
Rabbit-tobacco genus). Gnaphalium palustre (Western marsh
cudweed), a common annual of seasonally moist places, is the only California
native in the genus Gnaphalium.

Eleven
California Everlastings are currently classed as Pseudognaphalium. Of these,
most are perennials – although many function more like biennials or even annuals.
[1] Seven species, along with the non-native Jersey cudweed (Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum), are native
to western Los Angeles County. We
featured the Feltleaf everlasting previously (http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2013/09/plant-of-month-september-wrights.html).

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum) - Palos Verdes peninsula

California
everlasting (formerly Gnaphalium
californicum) is native from Washington/Oregon to Baja California, Mexico.
It grows throughout the California Floristic Province, with the exception of
the Great Central Valley. It can still
be seen in the Santa Monica Mountains, in the foothills of the San Gabriels, on
Catalina Island and in undeveloped areas of the Baldwin Hills and Palos Verdes
peninsula.

California
everlasting is also known as Ladies' tobacco, California rabbit tobacco, Green
everlasting, California pearly everlasting and California cudweed. It’s a
common herbaceous plant of seasonally dry, open places in forests, grasslands
and shrub lands (chaparral, coastal sage scrub and mixed evergreen), often on
slopes or in disturbed soils. It is
also used in local gardens for its unique appearance, fragrance and other
qualities.

California everlasting

Pseudognaphalium californicum

Whether
Pseudognaphalium californicum is an
annual, biennial or short-lived perennial depends partly on circumstances. In favorable situations in the wild, it
likely is a short-lived perennial. In
most gardens, it will behave as either an annual or biennial. The plants begin growth with the winter/spring
rains, first forming a luxuriant mound of soft, bright-green foliage.

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum)

spring foliage

The
plant itself is rather stout and upright, growing 2-4 ft. (0.5 to 1.25 m) tall
and up to 2 ft. wide. The larger leaves,
which can be 4-6 inches long (to 15 cm), are clustered in a basal rosette in
older plants. The leaves are linear to
lanceolate, with somewhat wavy margins; they may be sparsely hairy.

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum): foliage

The
most striking foliage characteristic is the glands, which are found on both
upper and lower surfaces of the leaves. You’ll know from the leaves that this is
California everlasting; it’s the only locally native everlasting with sticky,
aromatic leaves. Chemicals produced by the glands are responsible for the
characteristic aroma – like maple syrup with hints of lemon and camphor. On a
warm day, the scent makes you long for pancakes – kids love it! In fact, the scent is one of many reasons to
include this plant in your garden.

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum):

flowering plant in Madrona Marsh Nature Center

native plant garden

With
the warming spring weather, plants develop one or more erect, leafy flowering
stalks. These are many-branched at their
ends, producing an inflorescence (cluster of flowers) that is wide and flat,
mostly at the top of the plant. The
terminal branches have fewer leaves, so the flowering heads appear to float
above the foliage. Plants may begin
flowering as early as February in lowland S. California; as late as July
further north and at higher elevations.
In Mother Nature’s Backyard, Pseudognaphalium
californicum usually blooms from April to June.

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum):

flower heads

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum):

close-up of flower heads

The
flowers themselves are typical of the native Everlastings. The flowering heads have no showy ray flowers
(the ‘petals’ of a typical sunflower head) and the yellow disk flowers are only
slightly visible. The overall shape of
the flowering head is like a turban or bulb; rounded and wider at the base,
more pointed at the tip (see above). The
flowering heads are covered by thin, scale-like, white involucral bracts
(flower leaves), giving them an overall white color. In this species, the bracts are blunt tipped
(see close-up picture, above).

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum):

going to seed

Like
most Sunflowers, California everlasting is insect pollinated. The seeds are tiny, with bristles that aid in
wind distribution (or occasional hitchhiking in animal fur). In our experience, new seedlings establish
readily in suitable places. This is a pioneer species (an early colonizer of
bare or disturbed sites). As such, it
tends to establish on bare ground, in places with adequate winter moisture and
light.

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum):

seedlings

The
seedlings are easy to distinguish from other plants (above) and young plants
are easily removed where necessary. This
is not an aggressive invader in our experience; new plants pretty much replace
the old ones each year.

California
everlasting is not fussy about soil type, doing well in sandy, rocky or clay
soils. It probably does best in full
sun, but also grows in part-shade (it tends to be a bit leggy and has fewer
blooms). Pseudognaphalium californicum tolerates coastal conditions, salty
and alkali soils, poor drainage and deer.
It is not eaten by rabbits and does well on slopes or flats. All it really needs is adequate soil
moisture from winter until it begins to flower.

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum)

in garden at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden,

Claremont CA

There
are many good reasons to include Pseudognaphalium
californicum in your garden. It
functions as a useful filler plant between shrubs and grasses in new and mature
gardens. The white ‘flowers’ usefully
tie together disparate colors in a garden bed.
And, of course, the wonderful scent makes it a natural for the scented
garden. A plant next to a sunny garden
seat is heavenly on a warm spring day!

Like
many of the native Pseudognaphalium
species, California everlasting is a larval food source for the American
Painted Lady butterfly, Vanessa
virginiensis. If you like the
Painted Ladies, you should consider planting some native Everlastings (like Pseudognaphalium
californicum).

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum)

Garden of Dreams Discovery Garden,

CSU Dominguez Hills, Carson CA

Of
course another reason to plant California everlasting is to have a ready source
of dried flowers for bouquets and crafts.
Simply clip off the flowering stems before most of the flowers open,
bundle the stems, then hang them upside-down to dry in a dry place. The ‘flowers’ will last for a year – until
the next season provides a new crop.
They provide useful filler in bouquets and floral arrangements; but they
also make an airy arrangement all by themselves.

A
final reason to plant Pseudognaphalium
californicum is for its medicinal uses.
Tinctures of several Everlasting species, including P. californicum, have been dissolved in water and ingested in the
treatment of lower back pain and sciatica. A tea made from dried stems and
leaves is a traditional remedy for colds, coughs and stomach ailments. This treatment may work by strengthening the
immune system, so it’s important to use a mild dose (perhaps 5-10 leaves per
pint of hot water). After steeping, the
leaves are removed and the refrigerated tea is drunk once a day over 3-4 days. [2]
This
tea was also used as an eyewash.

California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum)

Mother Nature's Garden of Health, Gardena Willows

Wetland Preserve, Gardena CA

A
pillow stuffed with dried flowers and foliage is reported to help some
sufferers of asthma and chronic cough. This is an unusual delivery mode for a
medication, but may be worth a try. A poultice of the leaves is a traditional
treatment for cuts and skin sores; it reportedly numbs the pain and aids in
healing. Finally, Chumash healer Cecelia Garcia has
shared explicit instructions on the use of Pseudognaphalium
californicum as a weight loss aid.
Read reference 3, below, for more on this application.

In
summary, California everlasting is an interesting native plant with many
attributes to recommend it. It can be
grown in a variety of soils, even along the coast. Its aroma is unique among the local natives
and it provides needed habitat for American Lady butterflies. It can also be a source of craft materials
and medicinals. It’s an easy plant to
grow - if you can provide bare soil and don’t mind it moving around in your
garden. We love this plant and think you
will too.

For a
gardening information sheet see: http://www.slideshare.net/cvadheim/gardening-sheet-pseudognaphalium-californicum

For more
pictures of this plant see: http://www.slideshare.net/cvadheim/pseudognaphalium-californicum-web-show

For plant
information sheets on other native plants see: http://nativeplantscsudh.blogspot.com/p/gallery-of-native-plants_17.html

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