Datisca glomerata

Durango root

Family: Datiscaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Durango root is a California native perennial found in the southern Sierra Nevada, Death Valley Mountains, and California Floristic Province in dry streambeds and washes at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces yellow staminate flowers with anthers 4 millimeters long. Growing with erect, branched stems 1 to 2 meters tall that are generally clustered, it has a distinctive branching structure. Its leaves are alternate above and nearly opposite or whorled below, measuring up to 15 centimeters long, with ovate to lanceolate blades that are coarsely and unequally pinnately lobed. The fruit is approximately 8 millimeters long, containing light brown seeds with distinctive pitted rows.

Habitat: dry streambeds or washes

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, s SNE, DMoj (Victorville, Cottonwood Mtns)

California counties: Humboldt, Lake, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Tulare, Tuolumne, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Fresno, Riverside, Inyo, Siskiyou, Santa Barbara, Kern, Santa Clara, Monterey, Orange, Contra Costa, Tehama, Ventura, Napa, Colusa, Mariposa, Glenn, Madera, San Mateo, Calaveras, El Dorado, Yolo, Trinity, Solano, Merced, Butte, Amador, Stanislaus, Marin, Sonoma, Sacramento

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