Caulanthus anceps

Lemmon's mustard

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Lemmon's mustard is a California native annual herb found in southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, southwestern San Joaquin Valley, southeastern Coast Ranges, and western Transverse Ranges on slopes, plains, and roadsides at elevations of 300 to 1,700 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white to lavender flowers 4 to 8 millimeters long with spreading petals. Growing with erect stems 35 to 150 centimeters tall, it can be simple or branched toward the top and is sparsely to densely hairy. Its cauline leaves are petioled, 2 to 13 centimeters long, lanceolate to oblong with toothed edges. The fruit is an ascending to reflexed pod 3 to 6.7 centimeters long, containing 40 to 54 small oblong seeds.

Habitat: Slopes, plains, roadsides, alkaline or not, vertic clay, rarely serpentine

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 300-1700 m

Bioregions: s SNF, sw SnJV, se SCoRO, SCoRI, n WTR.

California counties: Kern, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Stanislaus, Fresno, Los Angeles, Kings

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