Eryngium mathiasiae

Mathias' button-celery

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mathias' button-celery is a California native perennial found in the High Cascade Range and Modoc Plateau in vernal pools, wet areas, and dry lakebeds at elevations of 970 to 1,510 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white flowers in spherical heads 8 to 12 millimeters wide arranged in compact cymes. Growing with stout, ascending to erect stems 30 to 40 centimeters tall that branch just above the basal rosette, it develops a distinctive growth pattern. Its leaves have a lanceolate to narrowly obovate blade 3 to 5.5 centimeters long, with sharp serrate or lobed edges, mounted on petioles 6 to 10 centimeters long. The fruit is an elliptic structure 2.5 to 3 millimeters long, covered in dense, unequal lanceolate scales.

Habitat: Vernal pools, wet areas, dry lakebeds

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 970-1510 m

Bioregions: CaRH, MP.

California counties: Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou, Lassen

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