Justicia californica

Beloperone, chuparosa, Chuparosa

Family: Acanthaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Beloperone is a California native perennial found in eastern Peninsular Ranges and desert regions in dry sandy or rocky washes at elevations below 950 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces dull scarlet flowers with yellow tones, 2 to 4 centimeters long with distinctive lips 1 to 2 centimeters in length. Growing up to 2 meters tall with stems that become largely leafless during flowering and covered in a soft, grayish canescent texture, it develops ovate to triangular leaves 1 to 6 centimeters long. Its leaves are softly puberulent with petioles less than 20 millimeters long, and delicate lance-elliptic bracts that fall away early. The fruit is 1.5 to 2 centimeters long and canescent, containing seeds that are approximately 2.5 to 3.5 millimeters round and distinctively mottled.

Habitat: dry sandy or rocky soils, especially washes

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 950 m

Bioregions: e PR, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, Los Angeles

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