Aliciella leptomeria

Sand aliciella

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Sand aliciella is a native annual found in the Great Basin and Desert Mountains in open, sandy or rocky areas at elevations of 800 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from April to June, this delicate plant produces thread-like purple and white flowers with a yellow throat, approximately 4 to 7 millimeters long. Growing with ascending branches 7 to 23 centimeters tall and covered in glandular hairs, it forms slender, open stems. Its basal leaves are lanceolate or widely linear, 1 to 6 centimeters long, with rounded, mucronate lobes, while cauline leaves are narrow and entire. The plant produces many small, narrowly ellipsoid fruits 3 to 5 millimeters long, matching the length of its calyx.

Habitat: Common. Open, sandy or rocky areas

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 800-2100 m

Bioregions: GB, DMtns (uncommon)

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Mono, Modoc, Lassen, Riverside, Los Angeles

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