Loeseliastrum depressum

Depressed standing-cypress, Depressed Standing-Cypress

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Depressed standing-cypress is a California native annual found in the northern Mojave Desert and eastern Sierra Nevada in sandy or clay soils of flats and gentle slopes at elevations of 1,000 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white flowers with distinctive yellow blotches at the base of the upper lip, measuring 5 to 8 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems, it reaches a low-spreading form characteristic of its desert habitats. Its leaves are narrowly elliptic, sometimes with subtle teeth along the edges, with acute to pointed tips. The small, delicate flowers feature a two-lipped corolla with an upper lip slightly longer than the stamens, creating a distinctive profile against the arid landscape.

Habitat: Sandy or clay soils of flats, gentle slopes

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 1000-2100 m

Bioregions: SNE, n DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Mono, Inyo

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