Castilleja brevistyla

Short style owl's clover

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: annual · Native

Short style owl's clover is a California native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada foothills, San Joaquin Valley, and southern Coast Ranges in grassland habitats at elevations below 1,200 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces pink and purple-red bracts with linear flowers 15 to 28 millimeters long and distinctive pouched lower lips. Growing with slender stems 6 to 40 centimeters tall, it has a delicate, sparsely hairy appearance. Its leaves are linear, 20 to 60 millimeters long with few to no lateral lobes, creating a subtle, grass-like profile. The flowers feature a straight beak 4 to 6 millimeters long and purple-red pouches nestled within its intricate bract structure.

Habitat: Grassland

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1200 m

Bioregions: s SNF, SnJV, s SCoRI.

California counties: Kern, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Kings, Monterey, Fresno, Madera, Merced, Tulare, San Mateo

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