Cordylanthus eremicus

Desert bird's beak

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: annual · Native

Desert bird's beak is a California native annual herb found in desert regions in sandy or rocky habitats at elevations of 100 to 1,000 meters. Flowering from May to September, this plant produces yellow-green to purple flowers with maroon-blotched throats and yellow tips, often appearing in dense spikes 15 to 25 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 10 to 80 centimeters tall, often tinged with red and covered in a whitish canescent surface, it has a delicate, branching form. Its leaves are thread-like or linear, ranging from 10 to 40 millimeters long, with 0 to 7 narrow lobes, giving the plant a feathery, sparse appearance. The small seeds are pale brown, approximately 1.5 to 2 millimeters long with a deeply netted surface.

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