Calochortus tolmiei

Pussy ears, Pussy Ears

Family: Liliaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Pussy ears is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, northern Sacramento Valley, northern Central Coast, and San Francisco Bay Area in dry, grassy slopes and woodlands at elevations of 50 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white to pink or purple flowers 12 to 25 millimeters long with densely hairy, ciliate petals in a loose umbel-like arrangement. Growing with slender stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall, which can be simple or branched, it emerges from persistent basal leaves. Its basal leaves reach 10 to 40 centimeters long, with a single cauline leaf typically present, and the flowers feature distinctive bell-shaped perianths with lance-oblong sepals. The nodding fruit is elliptic-oblong, 20 to 30 millimeters long, with irregular dark brown seeds that have a distinctive net-like texture.

Habitat: Common. Dry, grassy slopes, woodland, often in poor soil

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 50-2000 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, n SN, n ScV, n CCo, SnFrB

California counties: Mendocino, Butte, San Mateo, Sonoma, Humboldt, Lake, Tehama, Shasta, Trinity, Del Norte, Marin, Yolo, Siskiyou, Glenn, Santa Clara, Sierra, Napa, Santa Cruz, Plumas, Colusa

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