Crucianella angustifolia

Narrow leafed crucianella

Family: Rubiaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Narrow leafed crucianella is a naturalized annual found in southern Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, southern Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, and eastern Sacramento Valley in disturbed grasslands, foothill woodlands, and yellow-pine forests at elevations of 30 to 1,100 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white or yellow flowers in dense, narrow, grass-like inflorescences 2.5 to 7.5 centimeters long. Growing with erect or slightly decumbent stems 12 to 30 centimeters tall, it has distinctively 4-angled stems. Its leaves are arranged in whorls of 4, linear in shape and 8 to 25 millimeters long, with scarious bracts featuring green ribs and sharp tips. The fruit is glabrous and characteristically compact within the dense flowering structure.

Habitat: Disturbed areas in grassland, foothill woodland, yellow-pine forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 30-1100 m

Bioregions: s KR, NCoRI, s CaR, n SN, e ScV

California counties: Butte, Tehama, Amador, Shasta, Nevada, Sutter, Yuba

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