Linanthus parryae

Parry's linanthus

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Parry's linanthus is a California native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi, southern San Joaquin Valley, south Coast Ranges, western Transverse Ranges, southern eastern Sierra Nevada, and Mojave Desert in sandy, open, flat areas at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces blue-purple or white flowers with jagged lobes and distinctive purple marks at their base. Growing with decumbent or short-erect stems 2 to 10 centimeters tall, hidden by dense leaves and covered in glandular hairs. Its leaves are crowded with linear lobes 5 to 15 millimeters long, and are notably hairy. The plant produces small obovoid fruits containing 18 to 36 seeds that swell and become gelatinous when wet.

Habitat: Sandy, open, flat areas

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: s SN, Teh, s SnJV, SCoRI, WTR, SNE exc W&ampI, DMoj.

California counties: Kern, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Riverside, Tulare, Ventura, Inyo, Mono, San Luis Obispo, Monterey

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