Kopsiopsis strobilacea

California ground-cone

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California ground-cone is a native perennial found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, San Francisco Bay Area, Transverse Ranges, and Peninsular Ranges in open woodland and chaparral at elevations below 3,000 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces distinctive red-brown to dark purple flower clusters 4 to 15 centimeters long with pale purple corolla lobes. Growing 10 to 30 centimeters tall with a unique parasitic habit, it emerges from the ground with dense, compact stems. Its bracts are prominent, reaching 15 to 20 millimeters long, with flower calyxes that may have 0 to 4 lobes approximately 3 to 7 millimeters in length. The small seeds are roughly 2 millimeters long, contributing to this intriguing ground-dwelling plant's unusual botanical profile.

Habitat: Open woodland, chaparral, generally on

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 3000 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, n SN, SnFrB, TR, PR

California counties: San Bernardino, Trinity, Los Angeles, Shasta, Siskiyou, Del Norte, Lake, Placer, Humboldt, Kern, Riverside, Napa, Santa Barbara, Contra Costa, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Nevada, San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Sonoma, El Dorado, Ventura, San Diego

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