Loeseliastrum matthewsii

Desert calico

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Desert calico is a California native annual found in northern Transverse Ranges, northern Peninsula Ranges, Southeastern Nevada, Death Valley Mountains, and western Sonoran Desert in desert washes, flats, and slopes at elevations generally below 1,800 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces white to deep rose-purple flowers 11 to 21 millimeters long with striking maroon arches and white blotches on the upper lip. Growing with delicate stems, it forms low-spreading clusters across sandy and gravelly desert landscapes. Its leaves are characterized by oblanceolate shapes with coarse, bristle-tipped teeth, creating a distinctive textural appearance. The flower's bilateral structure features a lower lip with truncate, 3-toothed lobes and an upper lip with intricate maroon and white patterning.

Habitat: Common. Desert washes, flats, slopes, sandy to gravelly soils

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: generally < 1800 m

Bioregions: n TR, n PR, SNE, DMoj, w DSon

California counties: Inyo, Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, San Diego, Los Angeles, Mono, Fresno, Imperial

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