logo Calflora, a 501c3 non-profit
Taxon  Report  
Ambrosia dumosa  (A. Gray) Payne
Burro weed,   Burrobush,   White bursage
Ambrosia dumosa is a shrub that is native to California, and also found elsewhere in western North America.
Siskiyou Del Norte Modoc Humboldt Shasta Lassen Trinity Plumas Tehama Butte Mendocino Glenn Sierra Yuba Lake Nevada Colusa Placer Sutter El Dorado Yolo Alpine Napa Sonoma Sacramento Mono Amador Solano Calaveras Tuolumne San Joaquin Marin Contra Costa Alameda Santa Cruz Mariposa Madera San Francisco San Mateo Merced Fresno Stanislaus Santa Clara Inyo San Benito Tulare Kings Monterey San Bernardino San Luis Obispo Kern Santa Barbara Ventura Los Angeles Riverside Orange San Diego Imperial
DJJJASONAFMM

Bloom Period
Genus: Ambrosia
Family: Asteraceae  
Category: angiosperm  
PLANTS group:Dicot
Jepson eFlora section: eudicot

Communities: Creosote Bush Scrub, Joshua Tree Woodland
Name Status:
Accepted by JEF + PLANTS

Alternate Names:
JEF + PLANTSFranseria dumosa
Information about  Ambrosia dumosa from other sources
Nursery availability from CNPLX
This plant is available commercially.
Jepson eFlora

USDA PLANTS Profile (AMDU2)

Photos on Calflora

Photos on CalPhotos

Google Images

Photos on iNaturalist

ID Tips on PlantID.net

[Wikipedia] Range: Ambrosia dumosa, the burro-weed or white bursage, a North American species of plants in the family Asteraceae. It is a common constituent of the creosote-bush scrub community throughout the Mojave desert of California, Nevada, and Utah and the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northwestern Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua) (contributed by Mary Ann Machi)

[Wikipedia] Description: Ambrosia dumosa, a form of ragweed, is a highly branched shrub 20 to 90 cm in height. The younger stems are covered with soft gray-white hairs. Approximately obovate leaves are 1 to 3 times pinnately compound or deeply lobed and generally clustered on short branches. The leaves are 0.5 to 4 cm long and also covered in soft gray-white hairs. Its inflorescence is yellow with staminate and pistillate headson a single plant (monoecious). Staminate heads have many flowers and are 3 to 5 mm in diameter with a 5 to 8 lobed involucre. Pistillate heads are 2 flowered and lack corollas. Ambrosia dumosa has spherical bur-like fruits ranging in color from golden to purple to brown. Along with microscopic hairs, the fruit has 12 to 35 flat and straight spines which are 5 to 9 mm in length and scattered over the surface. Ambrosia dumosa becomes dormant during drought, losing all of its leaves to prevent water loss by transpiration; drought deciduous. During this time, it can still be recognized by the presence of longitudinal stripes on smaller stems. Like other types of Ambrosia, this is a ragweed, wind-blown pollen from burro-weed can cause serious allergic reactions. Increasing cases in Mojave Desert as the population grows from Joshua Tree, CA to Las Vegas, NV. (contributed by Mary Ann Machi)


Suggested Citation
Calflora: Information on California plants for education, research and conservation, with data contributed by public and private institutions and individuals. [web application]. 2023. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database [a non-profit organization]. Available: https://www.calflora.org/   (Accessed: 12/01/2023).