Eryngium armatum

Coastal button-celery

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Coastal button-celery is a California native perennial found in coastal regions including northern Coast Ranges, San Francisco Bay Area, Suisun Marsh, and southern California coastal areas in coastal prairie, grassland, and marsh margins at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces white to pale purple flowers in small spherical heads 5 to 15 millimeters wide arranged in clustered cymes. Growing with decumbent to erect stems 10 to 50 centimeters tall, the plant features branching primarily 2 to 5 centimeters above its basal rosette. Its thick leaves are oblanceolate, reaching 10 to 30 centimeters long with sparse sharp serrations and occasional irregular pinnate cuts. The fruits are small, narrow-elliptic, measuring 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters and covered with dense, unequal pointed scales.

Habitat: Coastal prairie, bluffs, grassland, marsh margins, often on clay soils

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: NCo, s NCoRO, s ScV (Suisun Marsh, Montezuma Hills), CCo, SnFrB, n SCo.

California counties: Mendocino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, Ventura, Marin, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Napa, San Benito, Humboldt, Alameda, Solano, San Diego

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