Amsinckia lycopsoides

Bugloss-flowered fiddleneck

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Bugloss-flowered fiddleneck is a California native annual found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range foothills, Sierra Nevada foothills, Central Valley, central western California, southern California coastal areas, Channel Islands, and Peninsular Ranges in open grasslands and disturbed areas at elevations of 5 to 850 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces yellow-orange flowers with distinctive dark spots, 7 to 11 millimeters long, with a throat partially closed by five hairy appendages. Growing with slender stems reaching up to 30 to 40 centimeters tall, it develops in open, disturbed habitats. Its leaves are lance-shaped, typically green and somewhat rough-textured, arranged alternately along the stem. The small fruits are 2.5 to 3 millimeters long with sharp tubercles, characteristic of the fiddleneck genus.

Habitat: Common. Open, grassland, foothill woodland, generally disturbed areas

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: 5-850(1770) m

Bioregions: NW, CaRF, SNF, GV, CW, SCo, ChI, PR

California counties: Santa Barbara, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, Shasta, Tehama, Butte, Siskiyou, Merced, Stanislaus, Colusa, Solano, Monterey, Tulare, Sutter, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Yolo, Sacramento, Glenn, Napa, Mariposa, Lake, San Diego, Alameda, Marin, Fresno, Tuolumne, Santa Clara, Placer, Trinity, Madera, Los Angeles, Sonoma, San Bernardino, Mendocino, San Mateo, Calaveras, Lassen, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Plumas

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