Asarum hartwegii

Hartweg's wild ginger

Family: Aristolochiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Hartweg's wild ginger is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, high Cascade Range, and Sierra Nevada in dry rocky slopes within open forest at elevations of 150 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces maroon flowers with white-striped tubes and distinctive curved hairs along the calyx lobes. Growing in densely clumped formations with deep, nearly vertical rhizomes, it spreads in compact clusters across rocky terrain. Its leaves are particularly distinctive, featuring white markings along the major veins with leaf margins adorned by curved hairs pointing toward the leaf tip. The plant's unusual flower structure includes a white tube with red stripes, covered in delicate white hairs and maroon lobes that spread open from the central tube.

Habitat: dry rocky slopes in open forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 150-2200 m

Bioregions: KR, CaRH, SNH

California counties: Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Plumas, Humboldt, Calaveras, Placer, Sierra, Nevada, Yuba, Del Norte, Sacramento, Kern

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