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Because leaf pubescence of the desert shrub Encelia farinosa increases in response to drought and influences photosynthesis and transpiration, we hypothesized that differences in water availability across the range of this species may result in genetic differentiation for pubescence and associated productivity traits. We examined maternal family variation of pubescence‐moderated light absorption (absorptance) in three populations of E. farinosa. Absorptance was always greatest for plants from the high‐rainfall environment and lowest for those from the driest site, but the rate of absorptance change in response to drought was similar among all populations. Similar patterns were found when we compared families within populations—all genotypes had similar initial leaf absorptances, differentiated very early in seasonal growth, then had concordant changes in absorptance thereafter. However, family‐level variance …