Linanthus californicus

Prickly phlox

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Prickly phlox is a California native shrub found in southern Central Coast, southern Southern California Ranges, and northern southwestern California in scrub, forest, and coastal strand habitats at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from January to July, this plant produces pink flowers with elliptic to round corolla lobes 9 to 18 millimeters long, open during daylight hours. Growing with subshrub stems 30 to 100 centimeters tall, it develops distinctive palmate leaf lobes 3 to 12 millimeters long with sharp-pointed tips. Its leaves feature deeply divided palmate lobes that give the plant its characteristic prickly texture, with each lobe ending in a distinct sharp point. The fruit is small, obovoid, and shorter than the plant's calyx, containing 12 to 30 compact seeds.

Habitat: Scrub, forest, coastal strand

Bloom period: Jan-Jul

Elevation: < 1500 m.

Bioregions: s CCo, s SCoRO, n&ampc SW.

California counties: San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Mariposa, San Diego, Glenn, Monterey

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