| | 1. Pappus awns > 0.3 mm wide at base, minutely serrate, V-shaped in X-section; leaves ± fleshy; coastal |
| G. stricta |
| | 2. Subshrubs, generally erect; stems generally ± red-brown throughout; cauline leaves narrower near middle, tips generally acute; salt marshes, San Francisco Bay Area |
| var. angustifolia |
| | 2' Perennial, prostrate to erect; caudex woody; upper stems generally greenish; cauline leaves widest at middle, tips truncate to acute |
| |
| | 3. Plants prostrate to decumbent; leaf tips truncate to rounded; dunes, sea bluffs |
| var. platyphylla |
| | 3' Plants decumbent to erect; leaf tips generally rounded to acute; sloughs, bluffs — North Coast |
| var. stricta |
| | 1' Pappus awns < 0.3 mm wide at base, entire, U-shaped in X-section or flat; leaves generally not fleshy; inland |
| |
| | 4. Outer phyllaries long-acuminate, generally coiled 360° |
| |
| | 5. Leaves dentate, teeth rounded, tips swollen — weed |
| G. squarrosa var. serrulata |
| | 5' Leaves entire or serrate, teeth pointed |
| |
| | 6. Stems whitish, generally appearing varnished; involucres 17–25 mm wide; cauline leaves 3–5 × longer than wide; sw California |
| G. camporum var. bracteosa |
| | 6' Stems yellow-brown to coppery-red, generally not appearing varnished; involucres 13–18 mm wide; cauline leaves generally 5–8 × longer than wide; ne California |
| G. nana |
| | 4' Outer phyllaries acute to acuminate, erect to reflexed (not tightly coiled) |
| |
| | 7. Involucres obconic; phyllaries ascending to erect; heads in panicles — eastern Mojave Desert |
| G. fraxino-pratensis |
| | 7' Involucres bell-shaped or hemispheric; phyllaries erect or recurved; heads in cymes |
| |
| | 8. Stems generally whitish, appearing varnished; leaves generally yellow-green, cauline widest below tip, generally abruptly reduced upwards; fruit generally white to golden-brown — involucres generally not subtended by phyllary-like bracts |
| G. camporum var. camporum |
| | 8' Stems generally reddish, generally not appearing varnished; leaves ± gray-green or purplish, cauline generally widest at base, little reduced; fruit generally red- or gray-brown |
| G. hirsutula |
| | 9. Phyllaries acuminate, weakly ascending or reflexed; pappus generally ± = disk corollas |
| var. davyi |
| | 9' Phyllaries acute, erect or ascending; pappus generally ± 1/2 disk corollas |
| |
| | 10. Involucres generally < 12 mm diam — Peninsular Ranges, w Sonoran Desert |
| var. hallii |
| | 10' Involucres generally > 12 mm diam |
| |
| | 11. Fruit generally reddish, smooth or narrowly 2–3-ribbed, top generally truncate; especially North Coast Ranges, Central Western California |
| var. hirsutula |
| | 11' Fruit generally golden or grayish, generally deeply ridged, top generally flanged or knobby; bluffs, hills, Central Coast |
| var. maritima
|