Navarretia tagetina

Marigold navarretia, Marigold Navarretia

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Marigold navarretia is a California native annual found in northwestern California, Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada foothills, Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and Peninsular Ranges in open, grassy flats and vernal pools at elevations of 10 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces pale blue flowers with three-veined lobes in delicate heads accompanied by leaf-like bracts. Growing with erect stems 7 to 30 centimeters tall, it branches primarily above with stems that are recurved-hairy near flower heads and glabrous or slightly puberulent below. Its intricately structured leaves are 2-pinnate-lobed with spreading, needle-like lobes that are hairy near the base. The translucent fruit uniquely dehisces when wetted, revealing the plant's adaptive characteristics.

Habitat: Common. Open, grassy flats, vernal pools

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 10-1600 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, n&ampc SNF, GV, SnFrB, PR

California counties: San Diego, Tuolumne, Yuba, Sutter, Butte, Placer, Nevada, Tehama, Humboldt, Amador, Shasta, Mendocino, El Dorado, Napa, Sonoma, Calaveras, Sacramento, Yolo, Solano, Lake, Colusa, Trinity, Glenn, Modoc, Marin, Siskiyou, Santa Clara, Merced, Fresno, San Joaquin, Stanislaus

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