Rafinesquia californica is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names California chicory and California plumeseed. It looks like a weedy daisy, bearing heads of elegant white-petaled flowers. The ligules of the flowers are often striped with lavender or pink on the undersides, a feature most noticeable when the heads are closed. Each fruit has a pappus of stiff white or light brown hairs.

Rafinesquia californica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Genus:	Rafinesquia
Species:	R. californica
Binomial name
Rafinesquia californica Nutt.

It is among the first plants to sprout up in areas recently cleared by fire. Indeed, the seeds germinate more readily in the presence of burned wood.^[1] It is native to most of the southwestern United States as far north as Oregon, and to Baja California in Mexico.