Calandrinia menziesii

Red maids, Red Maids

Family: Montiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Red maids is a California native annual found in the California Floristic Province, western Modoc Plateau, southern Sierra Nevada, and northern desert mountains in sandy to loamy grasslands and cultivated fields at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces bright pink-purple (occasionally white) flowers 4 to 15 millimeters long in short to elongate racemes. Growing with slender stems 10 to 25 centimeters tall, it forms delicate, open clusters. Its linear to spoon-shaped leaves range from 1 to 10 centimeters long, typically glabrous with occasional ciliate edges. The plant produces 10 to 20 small elliptic seeds, each 1 to 2.5 millimeters wide.

Habitat: Common. Sandy to loamy soil, grassy areas, cultivated fields

Bloom period: Feb-May

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, w MP, s SNE, n DMtns (Coso Range)

California counties: San Diego, San Bernardino, Kern, Riverside, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Humboldt, San Mateo, San Luis Obispo, Sutter, Contra Costa, Butte, San Benito, Tulare, Monterey, Santa Clara, 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.