Hackelia mundula

Pink-flowered stickseed

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Pink-flowered stickseed is a California native perennial found in eastern and central Klamath Ranges near Castle Crags and the Sierra Nevada Highlands on dry open slopes, forest openings, and roadsides at elevations of 1,650 to 2,900 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces distinctive pink flowers that gradually turn bluish, with a delicate limb 10 to 18 millimeters in diameter. Growing with stems 40 to 80 centimeters tall covered in long, soft-spreading hairs, it has a distinctive branching form. Its basal leaves are oblanceolate, measuring 6 to 22 centimeters long and 0.5 to 2.8 centimeters wide, with upper leaves progressively smaller and often clasping the stem. The fruit consists of shiny nutlets 4.5 to 6.5 millimeters long, covered in evenly distributed prickles that give the plant its "stickseed" common name.

Habitat: dry open slopes, forest openings, roadsides

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 1650-2900 m

Bioregions: e-c KR (Castle Crags), SNH

California counties: Fresno, Tulare, El Dorado, Mono, Tuolumne, Madera, Mariposa, Alpine, Siskiyou, Kern, Inyo, Mendocino, Trinity

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