Herissantia crispa

Curly herissantia, Curly Herissantia

Family: Malvaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Curly herissantia is a native perennial found in western desert regions of San Diego County in desert scrub habitats at elevations below 800 meters. Flowering from August to September, this plant produces flowers with golden-yellow anthers and pale petals 6 to 11 millimeters long. Growing with stems less than one meter tall, it develops slender branches that become reduced toward the top of the plant. Its leaves are blade-shaped, generally 1 to 7 centimeters long and approximately twice the length of the petiole, becoming smaller toward the stem's upper portions. The distinctive fruit is a spherical, inflated structure 10 to 20 millimeters in diameter, with papery segments that are silvery-shiny inside and short-bristly to the touch.

Habitat: Desert scrub

Bloom period: Aug-Sep

Elevation: < 800 m

Bioregions: w DSon (c San Diego Co.)

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