Castilleja densiflora subsp. densiflora

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: annual · Native

Dense-flowered owl's clover is a California native annual herb found in northern Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada foothills, San Francisco Bay Area, and southern Coast Ranges in grassland habitats at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces rose-purple flowers with cream-colored bracts that closely resemble the flowers themselves. Growing with slender stems reaching 10 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms compact, dense inflorescences. Its leaves are narrow and linear, arranged alternately along the stem, blending into the plant's delicate structure. The flower's distinctive calyx ranges from 8 to 20 millimeters long, with a lower lip that gradually widens and subtle teeth approximately 2 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Grassland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: NCoR, SNF, SnFrB, SCoR.

California counties: Riverside, Monterey, Sonoma, Ventura, Marin, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Placer, Alameda, Napa, San Luis Obispo, Tuolumne, El Dorado, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Mendocino, Santa Clara, Santa Barbara, Solano, Lake, San Diego, Amador, Calaveras, Tulare, Mariposa, Kern, Fresno

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