Nemophila pedunculata

Littlefoot nemophila

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Littlefoot nemophila is a native annual found in California Floristic Province and Modjeska Plateau bioregions in diverse habitats including grasslands, meadows, ocean bluffs, woodland, and streambanks at elevations up to 2,400 meters. Flowering from February to July, this delicate plant produces white or blue flowers 2 to 5 millimeters wide, often featuring distinctive dark veins or black, blue, and purple dots. Growing with slender stems, the plant typically reaches a low-spreading form with multiple branching stems. Its opposite leaves are notable for having 5 to 9 deep lobes, each blade 5 to 35 millimeters long and ranging from oblong to ovate in shape. Seeds vary in color from black to brown to green, with smooth, wrinkled, or pitted surfaces.

Habitat: Common. Ocean bluffs, grassland, slopes, meadows, sandbars, fields, woodland, streambanks

Bloom period: Feb-Jul

Elevation: < 2400 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, MP

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

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