Eryngium castrense

Great valley coyote-thistle, Great Valley Coyote-Thistle

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Great valley coyote-thistle is a California native perennial found in the Sacramento Valley, northern and central Sierra Nevada foothill regions, eastern San Joaquin Valley, and eastern San Francisco Bay Area Diablo Range in vernal pools, wet swales, and intermittent streambeds at elevations below 900 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white to faintly purple flowers in spherical heads 8 to 15 millimeters wide arranged in compact clusters. Growing with ascending to erect spiny stems 20 to 60 centimeters tall, it develops many branches above its basal rosette. Its deeply lobed leaves range 10 to 30 centimeters long, varying from oblong to lanceolate with complex pinnate or bipinnate divisions. The fruit is characterized by dense, unequal lanceolate scales that cover its 3 to 3.5 millimeter surface.

Habitat: Vernal pools, wet swales, intermittent streambeds

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 900 m

Bioregions: CaRF, n&ampc SNF, e GV, e SnFrB (Diablo Range).

California counties: Butte, Merced, Fresno, Santa Clara, Placer, Madera, Amador, Yuba, San Joaquin, Nevada, Stanislaus, Shasta, Sacramento, Tulare, Yolo, Calaveras, Lake, Tehama, Colusa, Tuolumne, Sutter, Glenn, Alameda, Mariposa, Kern, Contra Costa, Modoc, Napa, Solano, Monterey

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