Glandular big tarweed facts for kids

The glandular big tarweed, also known by its scientific name Blepharizonia laxa, is a unique wild plant. It is a type of tarweed that grows only in California, USA. This plant gets its common name "glandular" because it has many tiny, sticky glands on its surface.

Where This Plant Lives

This plant is found only in central California. When a plant or animal is found only in one specific area, we say it is endemic to that place.

The glandular big tarweed grows in the Central Coast Ranges. These are mountain ranges along the central coast of California. It also lives in nearby areas like the southern San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Valley.

You can find it from Contra Costa County in the north down to San Luis Obispo County in the south. It prefers to grow in habitats called California chaparral and woodlands. These are natural areas with shrubs, small trees, and grasses.

What This Plant Looks Like

The glandular big tarweed, Blepharizonia laxa, is quite similar to another plant in its family, called B. plumosa. However, there are a few ways to tell them apart.

Blepharizonia laxa often has a yellow-green color. Its relative, B. plumosa, tends to be more gray-green. A key feature of Blepharizonia laxa is that it is covered in many more stalked glands. These are tiny, sticky structures that look like small bumps on stalks. They give the plant its "glandular" name.