Nama californica

Family: Namaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California nama is a California native perennial found in northern Coast Ranges, southern Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi, San Joaquin Valley, eastern San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, and western edge of the Mojave Desert in dry, sandy areas at elevations of 500 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers in small, delicate bowl-shaped clusters. Growing with prostrate stems 3 to 10 centimeters long that fork and spread across the ground, it has fine, puberulent hairs with swollen bases. Its leaves are generally sessile, oblanceolate or spoon-shaped, measuring 5 to 14 millimeters long and 1 to 4 millimeters wide. The fruit is small, about 2 to 2.5 millimeters long, containing up to 4 tiny, cross-ridged seeds.

Habitat: Dry, sandy areas

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 500-2500 m

Bioregions: NCoRI, s SN, Teh, SnJV, e SnFrB, SCoRI, TR, w edge DMoj.

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