Johnstonella racemosa
Shrubby johnstonella, Shrubby Cryptantha
Family: Boraginaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Shrubby johnstonella is a California native perennial found in northern Santa Branca, eastern Peninsula Ranges, northern White and Inyo Mountains, and Mojave Desert regions in rocky slopes, crevices, washes, and desert scrub at elevations up to 1,400 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces yellow-appendaged flowers with a small corolla limb 1 to 3 millimeters in diameter. Growing 20 to 100 centimeters tall with many spreading to ascending branches that become rounded and shrub-like, it develops a woody base with wiry, canescent stems covered in sparse spreading bristles. Its leaves are narrow-oblanceolate to linear, 1.5 to 4 centimeters long, with bulbous-based bristles that give the plant a distinctive texture. The fruit consists of 3 to 4 nutlets, with one larger than the others, featuring dark gray surfaces with pale tubercles and a wide-triangular attachment.
Habitat: Rocky slopes, crevices, washes, canyons, desert scrub
Bloom period: Feb-May
Elevation: < 1400(1670) m
Bioregions: n SnBr, e PR, n W&I, D
California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Inyo, Imperial, San Diego, Orange, Mono, San Benito
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.