Chorispora tenella

Crossflower

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Crossflower is a naturalized annual found in the California Ranges, Great Valley, Southern California Coast, and Great Basin in disturbed areas and pastures at elevations below 2,300 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces purple to lavender (occasionally white) flowers with oblanceolate petals 8 to 10 millimeters long. Growing with erect to ascending stems 20 to 40 centimeters tall, the plant can be simple or branched and is often glandular or occasionally hairy. Its leaves are oblong to oblanceolate, coarsely dentate, with basal and lower cauline leaves 2.5 to 8 centimeters long. The fruit is spreading to ascending, 1.8 to 2.5 centimeters long with 10 to 24 small oblong seeds.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, pastures

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 2300 m

Bioregions: CaR, GV, SCo, GB

California counties: San Bernardino, Kern, Los Angeles, Inyo, Mono, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Riverside, Modoc, Siskiyou, Fresno, Yolo, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, Shasta, Madera, Tulare, Monterey, Sacramento, San Joaquin

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