Hackelia californica

California stickseed

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California stickseed is a native perennial found in northern California mountain ranges including the North Coast Ranges, Cascade Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada, and Modoc Plateau in meadows and forest openings at elevations of 940 to 2,490 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white flowers that gradually turn brown, with a delicate corolla limb 7 to 14 millimeters in diameter. Growing with slender stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall covered in strigose hairs, it develops an open, spreading habit. Its leaves range from 3 to 17 centimeters long, with lower leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate and upper leaves often clasping the stem. The fruit consists of rough nutlets bearing 10 to 25 evenly distributed prickles, which contribute to the plant's distinctive "stickseed" characteristic.

Habitat: Meadows, forest openings

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 940-2490 m

Bioregions: NCoRH, CaRH, n SNH, MP

California counties: Siskiyou, Butte, Modoc, Shasta, Plumas, Trinity, Tehama, Humboldt, Tulare, Lassen, Lake, Nevada, El Dorado

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