Chylismiella pterosperma
Wing fruit sun cup
Family: Onagraceae · Type: annual · Native
Wing fruit sun cup is a California native annual found in the Inyo Mountains and Panamint Range in well-drained, volcanic slopes, pinyon and juniper woodland, and sagebrush scrub at elevations of 1,400 to 2,400 meters. Flowering from May to June, this delicate plant produces white flowers with a yellow base that fade to purple, each small blossom opening at dawn. Growing with slender, erect, and branched stems 2 to 14 centimeters tall that peel near the base, it has a distinctive taproot and bristly hairs. Its leaves are narrow, alternate, and sessile, ranging from 3 to 30 millimeters long, with a lance-like to oblanceolate shape. The fruit is particularly notable, with (3)4 chambers, 12 to 28 millimeters long, bearing seeds with a thick wing and densely covered in glassy club-shaped hairs.
Habitat: Uncommon. Well-drained, generally volcanic slopes, pinyon/juniper woodland, sagebrush scrub
Bloom period: May-Jun
Elevation: 1400-2400 m
Bioregions: W&I (Inyo Mtns), DMtns (Panamint Range)
California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Mono
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.