Downingia ornatissima var. ornatissima

Folded calicoflower

Family: Campanulaceae · Type: annual · Native

Folded calicoflower is a California native annual found in northern Sierra Nevada foothills, Sacramento Valley, and northern San Joaquin Valley in vernal pools and roadside ditches at elevations near 150 meters. Flowering from April to May, this delicate plant produces blue and white flowers with distinctive curled upper corolla lobes that bend backward into an elegant ring. Growing as a small, slender annual with fine, thread-like stems, it reaches heights of just a few centimeters above the wet ground. Its leaves are narrow and sparse, blending subtly with the surrounding grassy or muddy habitat. The flower's intricate blue and white coloration, with its uniquely recurved upper lobes, makes this tiny calicoflower a charming hidden treasure of seasonal wetlands.

Habitat: Vernal pools, roadside ditches

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: < +- 150 m

Bioregions: n SNF, ScV, n SnJV.

California counties: Merced, Placer, Yolo, Solano, Butte, Tehama, Glenn, Colusa, Yuba, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Stanislaus, Mariposa, Sutter, Calaveras, Shasta

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