Downingia montana

Sierra calicoflower

Family: Campanulaceae · Type: annual · Native

Sierra calicoflower is a California native annual found in northern California Forest (near Redding), northern and central Sierra Nevada in grassy meadows and roadside ditches in pine forest at elevations of 300 to 1,700 meters. Flowering from May to August, this delicate plant produces pale lavender-blue to blue flowers with a central white area featuring two distinctive yellow spots and purple markings near the throat. Growing with slender stems reaching up to 30 centimeters tall, the plant has a delicate, spreading growth habit. Its leaves are narrow and distributed along the stem, providing a subtle backdrop to its intricate flowers. The fruit develops 15 to 35 millimeters long with translucent lines, harboring seeds with distinctive longitudinal markings.

Habitat: Grassy meadows, roadside ditches in pine forest

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 300-1700 m

Bioregions: n CaRF (near Redding), CaRH, n&ampc SN.

California counties: Shasta, Siskiyou, El Dorado, Tuolumne, Nevada, Butte, Placer, Calaveras, Mariposa, Yuba, Modoc, Lake

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