Mortonia utahensis

Utah mortonia

Family: Celastraceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Utah mortonia is a California native shrub found in the northern Mojave Desert on limestone slopes and canyon bottoms at elevations of 350 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white flowers in clusters 8 to 65 millimeters long. Growing 3 to 12 decimeters tall with cream-white twigs that turn gray with age, it develops a coarsely scabrous habit. Its leaves are small, 6 to 16 millimeters long, with ovate to round blades that are slightly concave on the underside and have rounded to tapered bases. The fruit is a glabrous capsule 5 to 7 millimeters long.

Habitat: Limestone slopes, canyon bottoms

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 350-2100 m

Bioregions: n DMoj

California counties: Inyo, San Bernardino

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