Epilobium ravenii

California willowherb

Family: Onagraceae · Type: annual · Native

California willowherb is a native annual herb found in the Klamath Ranges, northern California, Sierra Nevada, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, Sacramento Valley, central western California, and Transverse Ranges at elevations of 20 to 1,900 meters in dry, open, and disturbed areas. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces white flowers 1.8 to 3 millimeters long with delicate petals. Growing with slender stems up to 45 centimeters tall, it has a taproot and becomes slightly peeling near the base. Its leaves are primarily sublinear to lanceolate, often folded along the midrib, with basal pairs opposite and upper leaves clustered and measuring 5 to 30 millimeters long. The fruit is a slender capsule 12 to 20 millimeters long, sparsely covered in fine hairs.

Habitat: Dry, open, disturbed areas, roadsides

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: 20-1900 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, n SNF, SNH, ScV, CW (exc SCoRI), WTR, SnGb

California counties: Marin, Lake, Napa, Yolo, Shasta, Amador, Trinity, Plumas, Tehama, Tuolumne, Ventura, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Humboldt, Sonoma, Tulare, Merced, Santa Clara, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Butte, El Dorado, San Mateo, Colusa, Fresno, Calaveras, Del Norte, Mendocino, Nevada

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