Chloropyron palmatum

Palmate salty bird's-beak, Palmate Salty Bird's-Beak

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1 · Endangered

Palmate salty bird's-beak is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native annual found in the Great Valley bioregion, specifically in Colusa, Yolo, Alameda, San Joaquin, Madera, and Fresno counties, inhabiting alkaline flats at elevations below 60 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces predominantly white flowers with pale lavender sides, 15 to 20 millimeters long, emerging from dense spike-like inflorescences. Growing 10 to 30 centimeters tall with a gray-green appearance, the plant has soft, glandular stems that become increasingly glabrous with maturity. Its leaves measure 7 to 20 millimeters long, ranging from entire to 5-lobed and roughly oblong in shape. The seeds are small, about 2.5 to 3 millimeters long, with a distinctive reniform shape and deeply netted, wavy-crested dark brown surface.

Habitat: Alkaline flats

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: < 60 m

Bioregions: GV (Colusa, Yolo, Alameda, San Joaquin, Madera, Fresno cos.).

California counties: Fresno, Colusa, Madera, Yolo

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