The Orcutt’s Woody Aster (Xylorhiza orcuttii) is a rare plant native to southern California and Baja California, Mexico. Found mostly in arid climates of Imperial County, east of San Diego, and the Sonoran Desert of Baja California, Mexico, the waxy layer of its leaves act like a sealant holding in moisture as it is found mostly in arid canyons clinging to the banks of desert washes. 

Rare and endangered, Orcutt’s Woody Aster is listed as 1.B2 in the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants where it “meets the definitions of the California Endangered Species Act of the California Department of Fish and Game Code.”

To see photos of Orcutt’s Woody Aster please visit the San Diego Natural History Museum’s San Diego County Plant Atlas.

PHOTO CREDIT: Jeannie Gregory, SDNHM