Descurainia californica

Sierra tansy mustard

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Sierra tansy mustard is a California native annual found in the Sierra Nevada, Great Basin, and Desert Mountains in open sites, sagebrush scrub, aspen groves, and open woodland at elevations of 1,700 to 3,400 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces pale yellow flowers approximately 1.1 to 1.8 millimeters long. Growing with slender branched stems 20 to 105 centimeters tall that become increasingly hairy toward the top, it displays a delicate and open growth habit. Its distinctive leaves are oblanceolate to obovate, measuring 1.5 to 6 centimeters long, with 2 to 4 pairs of lanceolate lobes that have entire to slightly crenate margins. The fruit is an erect to spreading fusiform seedpod 3 to 5 millimeters long, containing 4 to 12 small ellipsoid seeds.

Habitat: Open sites, sagebrush scrub, aspen groves, open woodland

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1700-3400 m

Bioregions: SNH, GB, DMtns

California counties: Inyo, Mono, Tulare, Madera, Orange, San Bernardino, Tuolumne, El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, Alpine, Sierra, Fresno, Lassen, Riverside, Ventura

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