Euphorbia pediculifera

Carrizo mountain sandmat, Carrizo Mountain Sandmat

Family: Euphorbiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Carrizo mountain sandmat is a California native perennial found in the southern desert regions on dry slopes at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from January to April, this plant produces white petal-like appendages surrounding dark red to nearly black glands on small involucres. Growing with prostrate to erect stems that repeatedly fork and are two-faced, it spreads with a distinctive branching habit. Its opposite leaves are subsessile, ranging from 2 to 20 millimeters long, with ovate to spoon-shaped blades that have asymmetric bases and acute to rounded tips. The fruit is a small 2-millimeter ovoid structure with lobes and hairy surface.

Habitat: Uncommon. Dry slopes

Bloom period: Jan-Apr

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: DSon

California counties: Imperial, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Cruz

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