Cleomella plocasperma
Twisted cleomella
Family: Cleomaceae · Type: annual · Native
Twisted cleomella is a California native annual found in northeastern San Bernardino Mountains, Great Basin (excluding Warner and White & Inyo Mountains), and Mojave Desert regions in wet, alkaline meadows and greasewood flats at elevations of 875 to 1,710 meters. Flowering from May to October, this plant produces delicate white to pale yellow flowers 3.5 to 7 millimeters long arranged in elongated racemes. Growing 10 to 55 centimeters tall with branched stems that emerge from upper nodes, it has a slender and smooth growth habit. Its leaves feature 15 to 45 millimeter linear-elliptic leaflets that provide a fine, delicate texture to the plant. The fruit develops as a small capsule 4 to 5 millimeters long with slightly hemispheric to horn-shaped valves, adding architectural interest to this distinctive annual.
Habitat: Wet, alkaline meadows, greasewood flats, near thermal springs
Bloom period: May-Oct
Elevation: 875-1710 m
Bioregions: ne SnBr, GB (exc Wrn, W&I), DMoj (exc DMtns)
California counties: San Bernardino, Lassen, 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.