About Acourtia microcephala DC.
Acourtia microcephala DC. is a species of flowering plant in the Asteraceae family, commonly known as sacapellote. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in woodland and chaparral, particularly in the coastal mountain ranges. This plant is a bushy perennial herb that grows several erect stems from a woody caudex, reaching a maximum height of around 1.5 meters. Stems branch near their tips and are densely covered in toothed, wavy-edged, glandular leaves that range from 2 to 15 centimeters long. Both stems and leaves are sticky from plant exudate. Its inflorescences hold clusters of many flower heads; each cylindrical flower head is wrapped in long, flat glandular phyllaries. The flower heads are discoid, meaning they contain only disc florets with no ray florets. Each disc floret has two lips, the outer lip being long, flat, and usually bright pink, so it is easily mistaken for a ligule. The fruit produced is a glandular achene a few millimeters long, topped with a pappus of bristles that can grow up to one centimeter in length. This plant was traditionally used medicinally as a laxative.
