Clarkia heterandra

California gaura

Family: Onagraceae · Type: annual · Native

California gaura is a California native annual found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, southern Coast Ranges, and Transverse Ranges in shady woodland and yellow-pine forest sites at elevations of 500 to 1,700 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces pink flowers with elliptic petals 5 to 6 millimeters long in a distinctive rotate pattern. Growing with erect stems less than 60 centimeters tall that are glandular-puberulent, it has a delicate and slender appearance. Its leaves are lanceolate to ovate, with petioles 5 to 20 millimeters long and blades 2 to 8 centimeters in length. The fruit is a small, nut-like structure 2 to 3 millimeters long containing one to two seeds.

Habitat: Shady sites, woodland, yellow-pine forest

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 500-1700 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRI, SN, s SCoRO, TR.

California counties: Fresno, Kern, Los Angeles, Tulare, Mariposa, El Dorado, Trinity, San Bernardino, Placer, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Tuolumne, Siskiyou, Madera, Contra Costa, Amador, Riverside, Calaveras, Tehama, San Luis Obispo

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