Lunaria annua

Annual honesty

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Annual honesty is a naturalized annual found in California Ranges, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and Southern California coastal regions in disturbed areas at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces striking purple to lavender (occasionally white) flowers with wide-obovate petals 1.7 to 2.5 centimeters long. Growing with hairy stems 40 to 100 centimeters tall, it develops robust upright growth with branching structure. Its broad heart-shaped leaves range from 3 to 12 centimeters long, with wide basal leaves having cordate to cordate-ovate shapes and long petioles. The distinctive round, flattened seed pods are 3 to 5 centimeters long, creating an ornamental appearance in disturbed landscapes.

Habitat: Disturbed areas

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: CaR, CCo, SnFrB, SCo

California counties: Santa Cruz, San Bernardino, Butte, Plumas, Los Angeles, Alameda, El Dorado, Sierra, Humboldt, Marin, Napa, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, San Francisco, Placer, Nevada, Contra Costa, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Santa Clara, Sonoma, Monterey, Mariposa

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