Cleomella sparsifolia

Fewleaf bee plant

Family: Cleomaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Fewleaf bee plant is a California native perennial found in the eastern Sierra Nevada and Mojave Desert (Eureka Valley) on sandy areas and alkali lake margins at elevations of 850 to 2,030 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces distinctive yellow flowers with a brown central streak, 9 to 13 millimeters long, strap-shaped and recurved. Growing with glaucous, densely branched stems 10 to 90 centimeters tall, it has a sparse leaf structure with three leaflets below and simple leaves above. Its leaves feature obovate leaflets 0.4 to 1.5 centimeters long, creating a delicate and open architectural form. The fruit is a smooth capsule 15 to 45 millimeters long, producing subtle architectural interest in its desert and sandy habitats.

Habitat: Sand dunes, sandy areas on alkali lake margins

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 850-2030 m

Bioregions: SNE, DMoj (Eureka Valley)

California counties: 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.