Hypericum calycinum

Aaron's beard

Family: Hypericaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Aaron's beard is a naturalized shrub found in northern coastal California, central Sierra Nevada, central Coast Coast, and San Francisco Bay Areas in shaded wildland-urban interface zones at elevations below 1,040 meters. Flowering from June to November, this plant produces large bright yellow flowers 25 to 40 millimeters long with distinctive red-colored anthers. Growing as an evergreen shrub 20 to 60 centimeters tall with creeping stolons and erect, slightly branched stems, it spreads easily in transitional landscape environments. Its oblong to narrow-ovate leaves are 4.5 to 10 centimeters long, decorated with fine gland-dotted or gland-streaked surfaces. The mature fruit develops as an ovoid structure 10 to 20 millimeters long, containing small red-brown seeds with a finely netted surface.

Habitat: Shaded wildland-urban interface

Bloom period: Jun-Nov

Elevation: < 1040 m

Bioregions: NCoRO, c SNH, CCo, SnFrB

California counties: Humboldt, Contra Costa, Madera, San Francisco, San Mateo, El Dorado, Del Norte, Marin, Santa Cruz, Butte, Tuolumne, San Luis Obispo, Alameda, Sonoma

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