Linanthus arenicola

Sand linanthus

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Sand linanthus is a California native annual found in southern Mojave Desert and southern eastern Sierra Nevada regions in sandy dunes and flats at elevations of 800 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from March to April, this plant produces light yellow flowers with a purple throat, 5 to 7 millimeters long that open in the evening. Growing with delicate stems 1 to 8 centimeters tall, it has a compact and low-growing form. Its leaves have three to twelve millimeter lobes that are hairy on the upper surface and smooth underneath. The small plant produces 15 to 27 seeds in an ellipsoid fruit that is no larger than its hairy calyx.

Habitat: Dunes, sandy flats

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: 800-1400 m

Bioregions: s SNE, DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Riverside, Kern

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