Dithyrea californica

California shieldpod

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California shieldpod is a California native perennial found in Desert bioregions in sandy places and scrub at elevations of 50 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white to pale lavender flowers up to 1.5 centimeters long with delicate petals. Growing with several branched stems 1 to 6 meters tall, it emerges densely hairy from its base. Its basal leaves are oblanceolate to widely ovate, measuring 2 to 11 centimeters long and featuring dentate to shallowly lobed edges. The fruit contains two oblong seeds 3 to 4 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Abundant in sandy places, washes, scrub

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 50-1400 m

Bioregions: D

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, San Diego

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