Oreocarya abortiva

Bow-nut oreocarya

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Bow-nut oreocarya is a native perennial found in the Transverse Ranges, southern Sierra Nevada, and eastern desert mountains in gravelly soils at elevations of 1,980 to 3,560 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces off-white to tan flowers with yellow appendages in small clusters. Growing with prostrate to decumbent stems 3 to 20 centimeters tall, it forms a woody, branched caudex with multiple leafy branches emerging from the base. Its leaves are linear to linear-oblanceolate, with bristly undersides and strigose upper surfaces, forming sparse basal rosettes. The plant produces 4 shiny gray nutlets that are distinctively bowed when viewed from the side, each about 2 millimeters long with sharp-angled margins.

Habitat: Locally common. Gravelly soils

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1980-3560 m

Bioregions: SnBr, SNE, DMtns

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Mono, 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.