Mucronea californica

California spineflower

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

California spineflower is a native annual herb found in southern coastal and southwestern California in sandy habitats at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from March to August, this plant produces tiny white to pale pink flowers in delicate, intricate clusters. Growing with slender stems 5 to 30 centimeters tall and spreading up to 8 centimeters wide, it forms a low, sparse ground-covering structure. Its small leaves are narrow, measuring 1 to 5 centimeters long and just 0.2 to 0.8 centimeters wide, with distinctive involucral bracts that have short awns 1 to 2.5 millimeters long. The fruit is small, measuring 2 to 3 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Sand

Bloom period: Mar-Aug

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: s CW, SW.

California counties: Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Bernardino, Ventura, San Diego, Riverside, Kern

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