Cleomella palmeri

Palmer's jackass-clover, Palmer's Jackass-Clover

Family: Cleomaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.1

Palmer's jackass-clover is a rare (CNPS 2B.1) California native perennial found in the southern desert region in sandy washes, dunes, and desert scrub at elevations below 130 meters. Flowering from April to November, this plant produces bright yellow flowers with elliptic petals 2.5 to 6.3 millimeters long. Growing with much-branched brown-gray stems up to 2 meters tall, it develops a short-lived but robust structure. Its distinctive leaves feature three leaflets below and a simple leaf above, with linear-elliptic leaflets 17 to 35 millimeters long. The fruit consists of two small nutlets, each 1 to 5.5 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Sandy washes, dunes, desert scrub

Bloom period: Apr-Nov

Elevation: < 130 m

Bioregions: DSon

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