Acmispon cytisoides

Bentham's deerweed, Bentham's broom, Bentham's broom

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

Bentham's deerweed is a California native perennial found in coastal bioregions including Central Coast, San Francisco Bay, and southern Coastal Ranges on coastal dunes, slopes, and bluffs at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces white to pink flowers with cream-colored wings, often showing dark streaks and fading to brick-red when dry. Growing in low mat-forming or ascending stems 10 to 80 centimeters tall, it has leafy branches that are glabrous or finely hairy. Its leaves are irregularly pinnate with 3 to 5 elliptic to obovate leaflets, each 5 to 12 millimeters long, typically green in color. The fruit is an upcurved, curved pod 7 to 10 millimeters long with a 2 to 3 millimeter curved beak.

Habitat: Coastal dunes, slopes, bluffs

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: CCo, SnFrB, SCoRO.

California counties: San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Sonoma

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.