Geum aleppicum
Aleppo or yellow avens, Yellow Avens
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Family: Rosaceae · Type: Herb · Native
Conservation status: CNPS 2B.2
Geum aleppicum (Aleppo or yellow avens) is a native California herb in the Rosaceae family, recognized by upright yellow flowers and hooked styles with few bristles.
Aleppo avens is a native perennial found in northern California Ranges near Mount Shasta and the Modoc Plateau in mountain meadows at elevations of 1,000 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces bright yellow flowers in small clusters with 3 to 7 blooms, each petal 4 to 9 millimeters long and ovate-round. Growing with robust stems 30 to 120 centimeters tall, it forms distinctive tufted clumps that dry to a dark black-green color. Its compound leaves extend 10 to 40 centimeters long, featuring 1 to 4 leaflets on each side with a terminal leaflet typically 5 to 10 centimeters long and sharply three-lobed. The fruit develops as a small 4 to 5 millimeter body with a hooked style that has a few bristles at its base.
Identification and appearance
Key characters: 2 sympatric species; key features are upright yellow flowers and hooked styles with few bristles
Habitat and range
Habitat: Meadows
Elevation: 1000-1600 m
California counties: Lassen, Siskiyou, Modoc
Outside California: to northern and eastern North America, Mexico, Eurasia
Bloom period
Geum aleppicum blooms Jun-Aug.
Conservation status
CNPS 2B.2
How to tell it apart
vs Potentilla: Geum achenes bear a persistent, hooked or feathery elongating style that catches on fur; Potentilla achenes are smooth and styleless.; vs Fragaria: Geum flowers nod and the fruit is a dry head of awned achenes; Fragaria fruit swells into a fleshy red strawberry studded with surface achenes.; vs Duchesnea: Geum has cup-shaped flowers over a bracted hypanthium and a dry awned achene head; Duchesnea has solitary yellow flowers and a spongy, tasteless red mock-strawberry.; vs Drymocallis: Geum leaves have a large terminal leaflet and achenes tipped with hooked or plumose beaks; Drymocallis is glandular-sticky with beakless, smooth achenes.; vs Agrimonia: Geum bears open cup-shaped flowers and a head of naked awned achenes; Agrimonia carries flowers in a long slender spike and encloses the fruit in a bur-like hooked hypanthium.
Frequently asked questions
Is Geum aleppicum native to California?
Yes. Geum aleppicum is native to California (recorded as native).
When does Geum aleppicum bloom?
Geum aleppicum blooms Jun-Aug.
Where in California does Geum aleppicum grow?
Geum aleppicum occurs in Lassen, Siskiyou, Modoc, at elevations of 1000-1600 m.
What plant family does Geum aleppicum belong to?
Geum aleppicum is in the Rosaceae family, genus Geum.
Is Geum aleppicum rare or endangered?
Geum aleppicum carries California Rare Plant Rank 2B.2, state rank S2.
Related species
Other California species in the same genus, family, or bioregion.
Sources: Jepson eFlora · CNPS Rare Plant Inventory · Index of California Plant Names · CalPhotos · CDFW CNDDB
Last updated 2026-10-07
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Cal-IPC, and more.