Leptosyne californica

California coreopsis

Family: Asteraceae · Type: annual · Native

California coreopsis is a California native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada foothills, southern San Joaquin Valley, southern coastal interior ranges, southern California, Transverse Ranges, and desert regions in openings of chaparral and desert plains at elevations below 1,300 meters. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces yellow ray flowers 5 to 15 millimeters long with striking red-tipped involucre bracts. Growing with erect stems 5 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms slender, thread-like stems that rise singly or in small clusters. Its basal leaves are extremely narrow, about 2 to 10 centimeters long and only 0.3 to 0.5 millimeters wide, appearing almost cylindrical with occasionally short thread-like lobes. The fruit is distinctive, featuring obovate seeds 2.5 to 4.3 millimeters long, rusty-tan to light brown with red or black spots near the margins.

Habitat: Openings in chaparral, desert plains, washes

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: < 1300 m

Bioregions: s SNF, s SnJV, s SCoRI, SCo, TR, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern, Inyo, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Imperial, 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.