Nemophila heterophylla

Canyon nemophila

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Canyon nemophila is a native annual herb found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, and central western California in forest, chaparral, and streamside habitats at elevations of 30 to 1,700 meters. Flowering from February to June, this delicate plant produces white to pale blue bowl-shaped flowers 3 to 10 millimeters wide with a distinctive shape. Growing with slender stems up to several dozen centimeters tall, it has a delicate, spreading growth habit. Its lower leaves are opposite with 5 to 7 rounded lobes, while upper leaves become alternate and more lance-shaped with fewer or no lobes. Seeds are yellow-brown and produced in small clusters of 2 to 5.

Habitat: Forest, chaparral, roadsides, slopes, streambanks, talus

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: 30-1700 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, GV, CW

California counties: Placer, Calaveras, Amador, Tuolumne, Lake, Butte, Madera, Mariposa, Napa, Yuba, Mendocino, El Dorado, Santa Clara, Plumas, Sonoma, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda, Tehama, Nevada, Trinity, Fresno, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Siskiyou, Sacramento, San Benito, Yolo, Stanislaus, Glenn, Shasta, Monterey, Solano, Colusa, Sierra, San Luis Obispo, Humboldt, Sutter, Santa Cruz, San Joaquin, Kern, San Mateo, Los Angeles

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