Limnanthes alba

White meadowfoam

Family: Limnanthaceae · Type: annual · Native

White meadowfoam is a California native annual found in grasslands and vernal pool habitats across central and northern California. Flowering from March to June, this delicate plant produces white to cream flowers with occasionally yellow bases, the blossoms 8 to 15 millimeters long and bowl-shaped, aging to soft pink or violet. Growing 15 to 40 centimeters tall with erect, glabrous to hairy stems, the plant has a distinctive branching structure. Its compound leaves feature 5 to 11 leaflets ranging from linear to ovate, with each leaflet potentially entire or deeply three-lobed and measuring 2 to 10 centimeters long. The fruit develops as smooth or ridged mericarps, with petals curving protectively over the developing seeds.

California counties: Tuolumne, Sacramento, Butte, San Joaquin, Tulare, Sonoma, Plumas, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Yuba, Nevada, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano, Lake, Placer, Sierra, Mariposa, Stanislaus, Colusa, Tehama, Merced, Sutter, Yolo, Glenn, 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.