Chloropyron molle

Soft bird's beak

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: annual · Native

Soft bird's beak is a California native annual herb found in coastal regions of central California in coastal prairie and salt marsh habitats. Flowering from May to October, this plant produces pale white to cream flowers with a densely tomentose texture and distinctive lower lip. Growing with grayish-green stems often tinged purple, it reaches 10 to 40 centimeters tall and has a distinctively glandular and stiffly hairy appearance. Its leaves are approximately 10 to 25 millimeters long, oblong in shape and ranging from entire to deeply 7-lobed. The plant produces small dark brown seeds that are kidney-shaped with a deeply netted surface.

California counties: Napa, Solano, Sacramento

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