Gayophytum humile

Dwarf groundsmoke

Family: Onagraceae · Type: annual · Native

Dwarf groundsmoke is a California native annual found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, southern Coast Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, Transverse Ranges, and Warner Mountains in drying margins of wet sites and snowbeds at elevations of 750 to 3,200 meters. Flowering from May to September, this delicate plant produces tiny white to pale pink flowers less than 1.5 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems less than 30 centimeters tall, the plant has minimal branching with glandular-puberulent stem tips. Its leaves are small, measuring 1 to 2.5 centimeters long, with little reduction along the stem. The fruit is distinctive, measuring 8 to 17 millimeters long, flat and grooved along the midline, with slightly knobby surfaces and two attached lateral valves.

Habitat: Drying margins of wet sites, snowbeds

Bloom period: May-Sep

Elevation: 750-3200 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, SCoR, PR, TR, Wrn

California counties: Trinity, Tuolumne, Lake, Nevada, Tehama, Shasta, El Dorado, Fresno, Plumas, Santa Barbara, Lassen, Tulare, Modoc, Siskiyou, Butte, Humboldt, Amador, Madera, San Bernardino, Mono, Alpine, Placer, Glenn, Sierra, Mendocino, Del Norte, Calaveras, Colusa, Mariposa, Monterey, Ventura, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Benito, Kern, Inyo

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