Leptosiphon bicolor

True babystars

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

True babystars is a California native annual found in the northern Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada foothills, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, southern Channel Islands, and western Transverse Ranges in open, grassy areas, chaparral, and woodland at elevations generally below 1,700 meters. Flowering from March to June, this delicate plant produces pink, white, or pale yellow flowers with red-pink thread-like tubes and yellow throats, typically opening late morning and closing by early evening. Growing with slender, hairy stems 2 to 21 centimeters tall, the plant forms compact clusters in grassland environments. Its leaves are divided into narrow, obovate to linear lobes 3 to 13 millimeters long, creating a delicate, finely textured appearance. The flowers feature exserted stamens and small stigmas, giving the plant its distinctive, intricate floral structure.

Habitat: Common. Open, grassy areas, chaparral, woodland

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: generally < 1700 m

Bioregions: NCoR, SNF, SnFrB, SCoR, s ChI, WTR.

California counties: Humboldt, Mendocino, Tuolumne, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Kern, Santa Barbara, Fresno, Butte, Calaveras, Los Angeles, Mariposa, Monterey, Napa, Sonoma, Madera, Tulare, Amador, San Benito, Alameda, Colusa, Santa Cruz, Trinity, Marin, Lake, Siskiyou, San Luis Obispo, San Joaquin, Plumas, Glenn, Placer, Shasta, El Dorado, Mono, Merced, Tehama, Yuba, Contra Costa, Nevada, Del Norte, San Mateo, Ventura, Solano, Riverside, Sutter, Yolo, Stanislaus

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