Eremogone cliftonii

Clifton's eremogone, clifton's sandwort, Clifton'S Sandwort

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.3

Clifton's eremogone is a rare (CNPS 1B.3) California native perennial found in northern Sierra Nevada Mountains in Butte and Plumas counties, growing in meadows and oak/conifer woodland at elevations of 455 to 1,770 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white flowers 12 to 18 millimeters long in open terminal clusters with glandular-hairy pedicels. Growing in tufted clumps with slender green stems 15 to 35 centimeters tall, it forms delicate, rounded stems that are glabrous and somewhat dull. Its narrow leaves are sharp-pointed, 10 to 60 millimeters long and extremely thin, measuring just 0.7 to 1.1 millimeters wide with a single prominent vein. The fruit contains 5 to 9 black, ovate seeds that are 2 to 3 millimeters long with low, rounded tubercles.

Habitat: Decomposing granite in meadows, oak/conifer woodland

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 455-1770 m

Bioregions: n SN (Butte, Plumas cos.).

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