Hosackia pinnata

Pinnate lotus

Family: Fabaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Pinnate lotus is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, northern and central Sierra Nevada, and Central Coast at elevations of 600 to 1,700 meters in wet meadows and bogs. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces yellow banner petals with white lower petals in small clusters of 4 to 10 flowers. Growing with a single decumbent or ascending stem 15 to 50 centimeters tall and often with a spongy-thickened base, it has a distinctive growth pattern. Its leaves are composed of 5 to 7 nearly opposite leaflets, each 1 to 2.5 centimeters long and elliptic or obovate in shape. The plant produces linear fruits 3 to 5 centimeters long that are remarkably slender, measuring only 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters wide.

Habitat: Wet meadows, bogs

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 600-1700 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaR, n SN, c SNH, CCo

California counties: Modoc, Butte, Glenn, Shasta, Yuba, Siskiyou, Tehama, Mendocino, Humboldt, Fresno, Tuolumne, Trinity, Lake, Placer, Tulare, Plumas, El Dorado, Amador

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