Downingia insignis

Harlequin calicoflower

Family: Campanulaceae · Type: annual · Native

Harlequin calicoflower is a California native annual found in the Sacramento Valley, northern San Joaquin Valley, and Modoc Plateau in vernal pools, roadside ditches, and lake margins at elevations below 1,650 meters. Flowering from March to May, this delicate plant produces blue and white flowers with intricate markings, featuring a lower lip sky-blue with prominent dark blue veins and a central white area with yellow-green and purple spots. Growing with slender stems typically reaching 10 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms delicate, branching structures in seasonal wetland environments. Its leaves are narrow and lance-shaped, arranged alternately along the stem, complementing the flower's complex and striking color pattern. The fruit develops 45 to 80 millimeters long with tough lateral walls, containing seeds with distinctive longitudinal lines.

Habitat: Vernal pools, roadside ditches, lake margins

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1650 m

Bioregions: ScV, n SnJV, MP

California counties: Contra Costa, Yolo, Colusa, Solano, Lassen, Tehama, Sutter, San Joaquin, Modoc, Glenn, Calaveras, Butte, Shasta, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Trinity, Sacramento, 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.