Eryngium aristulatum var. aristulatum

California eryngo

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California eryngo is a California native perennial found in northern coastal, northern coastal rim, Sacramento Valley, and San Francisco Bay Area regions in vernal pools, lakeshores, and wet depressions at elevations below 1,070 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white to pale blue flowers with spiny outer bract margins and distinctive globular heads. Growing with slender to stout stems that can be either sprawling or erect, it develops a variable growth habit depending on local conditions. Its leaves are glabrous to slightly puberulent, with spiny-edged bracts surrounding the compact, rounded flower clusters. The fruit features elongated styles that extend well beyond the calyx, with scales that are densely to sparsely covered in bristly projections.

Habitat: Vernal pools, lakeshores, drying lakes, wet depressions

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 1070 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoR, ScV, SnFrB.

California counties: Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Tehama, Lake, San Diego, Alameda, Plumas, Marin, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Solano, San Mateo, Humboldt, San Luis Obispo, Colusa, Yolo, Del Norte, Butte, San Joaquin, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Sacramento

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