Amsinckia menziesii

Common fiddleneck, small-flowered fiddleneck, Small-Flowered Fiddleneck

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Common fiddleneck is a California native annual found in California Floristic Province and Modoc Plateau in open, disturbed areas at forest and woodland edges at elevations below 1,700 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces yellow to orange-yellow flowers with small 4 to 7 millimeter corollas featuring distinctive spots. Growing with decumbent to ascending green to brown stems that are spreading-bristly and branching from the base, it reaches variable heights in disturbed habitats. Its leaves are green, spreading, and coarse-hairy to bristly, giving the plant a rough textural appearance. The small fruit is 2 to 3.5 millimeters long, with sharp tubercles that contribute to the plant's distinctive surface texture.

Habitat: Shade-tolerant, open, disturbed areas at forest/woodland edges

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 1700 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, MP

California counties: San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Kern, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, San Diego, El Dorado, Riverside, Tuolumne, Monterey, Madera, Alameda, Yolo, Placer, Modoc, Butte, San Mateo, San Benito, Lassen, Ventura, Siskiyou, Humboldt, Shasta, Imperial, Orange, Inyo, Nevada, Fresno, Lake, Tulare, Colusa, Sacramento, Mariposa, San Joaquin, Calaveras, Merced, Tehama, Contra Costa, Sutter, Plumas, Glenn, Yuba, San Francisco, Napa, Kings, Amador, Sierra, Stanislaus, Trinity, Alpine, Santa Clara, Solano, Santa Cruz

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