Hymenoxys hoopesii

Owl's claws

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Owl's claws is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, Sierra Nevada, Warner Mountains, and northern eastern Sierra Nevada in mountain meadows, open forest, and streambanks at elevations of 1,500 to 3,650 meters. Flowering from May to November, this plant produces bright yellow-orange to orange flowers in heads 12 to 17 millimeters wide, arranged in panicle-like or flat-topped clusters. Growing with 1 to 4 stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall, the plant has a stout, nearly black rhizome and stems that are often red-purple at the base. Its leaves range from 5 to 30 centimeters long, with proximal leaves oblong to oblanceolate and entire, while distal leaves become progressively smaller and more linear. The plant produces numerous disk flowers and up to 26 ray flowers, creating a distinctive and showy appearance in its mountain habitats.

Habitat: Mountain meadows, open forest, streambanks

Bloom period: May-Nov

Elevation: 1500-3650 m

Bioregions: KR, SN, Wrn, n SNE

California counties: Mono, Inyo, Tulare, Alpine, El Dorado, Placer, Plumas, Trinity, Fresno, Tuolumne, Modoc, Siskiyou, Mariposa

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