Myosurus minimus

Common mouse tail

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: annual · Native

Common mouse tail is a California native annual found in California Floristic Province and Great Basin bioregions in wet fields, vernal pools, streambanks, and lake shores at elevations up to 2,100 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces small white to green flowers in delicate, elongated scapes rising above tiny leaves. Growing with slender stems 4 to 16.5 centimeters tall, it forms compact clusters close to the ground. Its leaves are narrow and grasslike, emerging in a low rosette pattern around the distinctive elongated fruiting structure. The fruit develops as a narrow, rhombic aggregate up to 50 millimeters long, with tiny beaked segments characteristic of this unusual species.

Habitat: Wet fields, vernal pools, streambanks, lake shores

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 2100 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, GB

California counties: Lassen, Merced, Contra Costa, Fresno, Sutter, Shasta, Mono, Tehama, Siskiyou, Los Angeles, Alameda, Stanislaus, San Luis Obispo, Butte, San Joaquin, Kern, Plumas, Kings, Lake, Santa Cruz, Tulare, Monterey, San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, Sacramento, El Dorado, Marin, Colusa, Tuolumne, Nevada, Solano, Yolo, Modoc, Mendocino, Placer, Santa Clara, San Benito, Trinity, Sierra, San Francisco, Glenn, Sonoma, Alpine, Mariposa, Inyo, Napa, Madera, Humboldt, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Ventura

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