Loeflingia squarrosa

Spreading pygmyleaf, Spreading Pygmyleaf

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Spreading pygmyleaf is a California native annual found in the San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, southern California, Peninsular Ranges, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert in sandy or gravelly areas of hills, mesas, and dunes at elevations below 1,200 meters. Flowering from spring to summer, this plant produces tiny white to pale flowers in small clusters. Growing with stiff, much-branched stems 1 to 12 centimeters tall and glandular-hairy texture, it forms a compact, fleshy-looking plant. Its leaves are short, 2 to 7 millimeters long, with erect to slightly curved blades that have bristly tips and fused bases forming a scarious sheath. The fruit develops with hardened, awned sepals, creating a distinctive three-angled seed capsule.

Habitat: Sand, gravel of hills, mesas, dunes, disturbed areas

Bloom period: Spring-summer

Elevation: < 1200 m

Bioregions: Teh, SnJV, SnFrB, SCo, PR, GB, DMoj

California counties: Kern, Ventura, Riverside, Los Angeles, Lassen, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Stanislaus, Mono, Fresno, Inyo, Madera, Monterey, Plumas, San Benito, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Tulare, Kings

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