Eryngium vaseyi var. vallicola

Coyote thistle

Family: Apiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Coyote thistle is a California native perennial found in northern Sierra Nevada foothills, southeastern Sacramento Valley, and northeastern San Joaquin Valley in vernal pool habitats at elevations of 10 to 335 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white to bluish flower heads with distinctive erect sepal tips clustered in compact clusters. Growing with short, branched stems 1 to 5 centimeters tall emerging from a basal rosette, it forms compact, thistle-like clusters. Its leaves are clustered in a low rosette with narrow, potentially spiny margins characteristic of its thistle-like structure. The fruit features unequal, sharp-tipped scales in ovate or awl-like shapes.

Habitat: Vernal pools

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 10-335 m

Bioregions: n SNF (Amador, Calaveras cos.), se ScV, ne SnJV.

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