Lycium parishii

Parish's desert-thorn

Family: Solanaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

Parish's desert-thorn is a rare (CNPS 2B.3) California native shrub found in eastern Santa Catalina and western Colorado Desert bioregions on sandy to rocky slopes and in canyons at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from March to April, this plant produces distinctive purple flowers with narrow funnel-shaped corollas 6 to 10 millimeters long. Growing 1 to 3 meters tall with an intricate, spreading-branched form and glandular-hairy stems, it develops an open, intricately structured silhouette. Its leaves are oblanceolate, measuring 5 to 30 millimeters long, and the plant bears small red fruits 4 to 7 millimeters in diameter. The shrub produces flowers with short pedicels and a bell-shaped calyx, creating a delicate desert landscape presence.

Habitat: Sandy to rocky slopes, canyons

Bloom period: Mar-Apr

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: e SCo, w DSon

California counties: Imperial, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside

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