Lithophragma tenellum

Slender woodland star

Family: Saxifragaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Slender woodland star is a California native perennial found in northern Sierra Nevada, Sierra Nevada Borderlands, Sierra Nevada Brightline, and Modoc Plateau in dry areas at elevations of 1,300 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces delicate pink or occasionally white flowers with 5 to 7 lobes, each 3 to 7 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 8 to 30 centimeters tall, it has a delicate and graceful form. Its basal leaves are distinctive, with deeply divided blades that feature three main lobes, each of those lobes further subdivided with rounded teeth. The plant's tiny flowers are held on short pedicels and feature a hemispheric hypanthium that partially fuses with the ovary.

Habitat: dry areas

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 1300-3000 m

Bioregions: CaRH, n SNH, SnGb, SnBr, MP

California counties: San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Plumas, Modoc, Lassen, Kern, San Diego, Amador, Sierra, Tehama, Butte, Siskiyou, Placer, Shasta, Mendocino, Tulare, Trinity, Madera, Santa Barbara, El Dorado, Nevada, Merced, Alpine

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