Crassula tillaea

Mediterranean pygmy weed

Family: Crassulaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Mediterranean pygmy weed is a naturalized annual found in northern California Interior Ranges, southern California Ranges, northern and central Sierra Nevada Foothills, Central Valley, Central Western, and Southwestern California in open, gravelly sites at elevations below 700 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces tiny white to pinkish flowers less than one millimeter long. Growing with small erect stems 1 to 6 centimeters tall that turn reddish with age, it develops slender branches that remain upright. Its leaves are short and oblong, measuring 1 to 3 millimeters long with slightly pointed tips. The fruit develops as a small ascending ovoid structure containing one or two shiny, elliptic seeds with wavy longitudinal lines.

Habitat: Open, gravelly sites

Bloom period: Feb-May

Elevation: < 700 m

Bioregions: NCoRI, s CaRF, n&ampc SNF, GV, CW, SW

California counties: Yuba, Amador, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Calaveras, Nevada, Tulare, Butte, San Joaquin, Yolo, Alameda, El Dorado, Fresno, Madera, Marin, Mendocino, Placer, Santa Clara, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Sacramento, Tehama, Colusa, Glenn, Merced, Shasta, Tuolumne, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Napa, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Lake

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