Herniaria hirsuta var. hirsuta

Herniaria

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Herniaria is a naturalized annual found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, northern Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, southern Great Basin, and Peninsular Ranges in sandy flats, roadsides, and woodland habitats at elevations of 200 to 1,750 meters. Flowering from spring through fall, this plant produces tiny greenish-white flowers less than 1.2 millimeters long in small clusters of 3 to 6 blooms. Growing with low-spreading stems 4 to 15 centimeters long, it forms dense, mat-like ground cover. Its small leaves are densely hairy, creating a soft, compact appearance across the ground. The seeds are minute, measuring just 0.6 to 0.7 millimeters in size.

Habitat: Sandy flats, roadsides, woodland

Bloom period: Spring-fall

Elevation: 200-1750 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRI, n&ampc SNF, n SNH, GV, SnGb, PR

California counties: Tehama, Nevada, Butte, Plumas, Madera, San Diego, Shasta, Tuolumne, Mariposa

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