Hypertelis umbellata

Carpet weed

Family: Molluginaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Carpet weed is a naturalized perennial found in the Sonoran Desert and southern desert regions in sandy washes, seasonal pools, flats, and slopes at elevations below 1,700 meters. Flowering from September to March, this plant produces small white or cream-colored flowers in clusters of 3 to 4 blooms. Growing with glaucous stems 3 to 20 centimeters tall, it forms dense, low-growing clusters with distinctive whorled leaf arrangements. Its leaves grow in whorls of 4 to 10, each linear leaf measuring 3 to 15 millimeters long. The fruit is approximately spherical, containing small brown seeds.

Habitat: Uncommon. Seasonal pools, sandy washes, flats, slopes

Bloom period: Sep-Mar

Elevation: < 1700 m

Bioregions: SnJt, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, Inyo, Kern, Imperial

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