Cusickiella quadricostata

Bodie hills cusickiella, Bodie Hills Cusickiella

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Bodie hills cusickiella is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in the southern eastern Sierra Nevada in Mono County, occurring on rocky flats, slopes, and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 2,300 to 2,800 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces small white to pale lavender flowers approximately 3 to 4.5 millimeters long. Growing with delicate stems 2 to 6 centimeters tall, it has distinctive branched and curled hairs with stiff simple hairs. Its narrow linear to oblong leaves have ciliate margins, with 1 to 5 cauline leaves functioning as bracts. The tiny ovoid fruit is 3 to 5 millimeters long with a distinctive 4-sided shape and a short 0.5 to 1 millimeter style.

Habitat: Rocky flats, sagebrush, slopes, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 2300-2800 m

Bioregions: SNE (Mono Co.)

California counties: Mono

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