Eriodictyon trichocalyx var. trichocalyx

Hairy yerba santa

Family: Namaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Hairy yerba santa is a California native shrub found in southern California coastal areas, San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, and western desert edges in chaparral, woodland, and open pine forest at elevations of 120 to 2,600 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces yellow-green flowers with a distinctive sticky, sparse-hairy appearance. Growing with upright stems that are sticky and sparsely short-hairy, it forms a robust shrub reaching several meters tall. Its leaves are particularly notable for their net-like venation pattern, with upper surfaces mostly smooth and lower surfaces covered in a sparse, felt-like tomentose layer between prominent veins. The plant thrives in diverse rocky habitats, from mountain slopes to open mesas and woodland ravines.

Habitat: Slopes, mesas, ravines, chaparral, woodland, open pine forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: (30)120-2600 m

Bioregions: SCo, SnGb, SnBr, PR, w edge D (rare).

California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern, Riverside, San Diego, Tulare, Ventura, Santa Barbara

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