Elatine californica

California waterwort

Family: Elatinaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California waterwort is a California native perennial found in southern North Coast Ranges (Snow Mountain), Central Valley, and San Francisco Bay Area in pools, ponds, rice fields, and streambanks at elevations of 50 to 1,900 meters. Flowering from March to August, this plant produces small white to pale pink flowers with four petals that are wider than the sepals. Growing with decumbent to erect stems just 1 to 5 centimeters tall, it forms delicate low-spreading clusters. Its oblong leaves are tapered at the base, with leaf stalks approximately half the length of the leaf blade. The distinctive fruit has four chambers, with recurved seed-bearing structures that create a unique architectural pattern.

Habitat: Pools, ponds, rice fields, streambanks

Bloom period: Mar-Aug

Elevation: 50-1900 m

Bioregions: s NCoRH (Snow Mtn), GV, SnFrB

California counties: Madera, Riverside, Lassen, San Bernardino, San Diego, Contra Costa, Orange, Los Angeles, Merced, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Fresno, Modoc, Butte, San Luis Obispo, Sutter, Plumas, Glenn, Tehama, Shasta, Sierra, Lake, Stanislaus, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Kern, Monterey, Yolo

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