Chorizanthe xanti

Riverside spineflower

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Riverside spineflower is a California native perennial found in southern California's desert and coastal regions in sandy or rocky habitats at elevations of 300 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces delicate pink to purple flowers in open, flat-topped clusters with hooked awns. Growing with erect, diffusely branched stems 15 to 25 centimeters tall, it spreads with ascending branches from a short stem base. Its leaves are primarily basal, with oblong to ovate blades 3 to 10 millimeters long, densely covered in soft white hairs on the underside. The fruit is a small, three-angled structure 4 to 4.5 millimeters long, surrounded by a hairy perianth.

California counties: Kern, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Tulare, Fresno, Monterey, San Bernardino, Mono, Riverside, Merced, San Benito, Kings, Inyo

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