Limosella aquatica

Northern mudwort

Family: Scrophulariaceae · Type: annual · Native

Northern mudwort is a California native annual found in the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, San Bernardino Mountains, Peninsular Ranges, and Modoc Plateau in wet, muddy, periodically flooded places at elevations below 3,200 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers occasionally with blue exteriors, small and delicate at approximately 2 millimeters long. Growing in tufted clusters with spreading stems, it forms low-growing aquatic colonies. Its leaves are spoon-shaped to ovate, 5 to 30 millimeters long with transparent leaf bases, typically flat and somewhat succulent. The fruit is small, elliptic to spheric, measuring 3 to 5 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Wet, muddy, periodically flooded places, fresh water

Bloom period: Jun-Sep

Elevation: < 3200 m

Bioregions: CaR, SNH, CCo, SnFrB, SnBr, PR, MP

California counties: Lassen, Plumas, San Bernardino, Modoc, San Diego, Riverside, Monterey, Alpine, Inyo, Marin, Mono, San Luis Obispo, Butte, Kern, Merced, Nevada, Placer, Santa Clara, Sierra, Tulare, San Mateo, Sacramento, Tehama, Yuba, Siskiyou, Ventura

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