Castilleja ambigua

Johnny-nip

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: annual · Native

Johnny-nip is a California native annual herb found in coastal and interior regions in coastal prairie, grassland, and coastal scrub habitats at low elevations. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces pale yellow or rose-purple flowers with yellow to rose-purple bracts, creating delicate and colorful inflorescences up to 4 centimeters wide. Growing 10 to 30 centimeters tall with a much-branched, decumbent form and soft puberulent stems, it spreads across the landscape with a distinctive growth pattern. Its leaves are 10 to 50 millimeters long, lanceolate to oblong, with 0 to 5 subtle lobes that provide a delicate texture to the plant. The flowers feature a distinctive pale yellow or rose-purple corolla with a 4 to 5 millimeter straight beak and purple-dotted pouches at the base.

California counties: Nevada, Mendocino, San Mateo, Marin, Sonoma, Monterey, Napa, Santa Cruz, Humboldt

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