Linanthus inyoensis

Inyo gilia

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Inyo gilia is a California native perennial found in southern Sierra Nevada and eastern Sierra Nevada in open, sandy pine forests and sagebrush scrub at elevations of 1,900 to 2,600 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white flowers with yellow tube and throat, approximately 4 to 7 millimeters long, delicately positioned on thread-like pedicels. Growing with fine, white-jointed stems 3 to 10 centimeters tall that have spreading branches, it develops distinctive branching patterns with sparse, glandular hairs. Its leaves range from oblanceolate to obovate, with basal leaves 4 to 8 millimeters long and cauline leaves 3 to 6 millimeters long, often entire or lightly toothed and spreading or recurved. The small fruits contain 10 to 15 seeds per chamber, typically not becoming gelatinous when wet.

Habitat: Common. Open, sandy flats in pine forest or sagebrush scrub

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 1900-2600 m

Bioregions: s SNH, SNE

California counties: Inyo, Mono, Tulare, Kern

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