Orthocarpus bracteosus

Bracted owl's clover

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.1

Bracted owl's clover is a rare (CNPS 2B.2) California native annual found in the northern Sierra Nevada and Modoc Plateau in moist meadows at elevations of 500 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces white to purple flowers with distinctive hooked beaks and deeply pouched lower lips. Growing 10 to 40 centimeters tall with slender stems that become purple-tinged, it has linear leaves with proximal leaves entire and distal leaves divided into three lobes. Its leaves range 15 to 35 millimeters long, with delicate ovate bracts that grade into the leaves and occasionally develop purple tints. The fruit is 5 to 7 millimeters long, containing light brown seeds.

Habitat: Moist meadows

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 500-2000 m

Bioregions: CaR, n SNH (Plumas Co.), MP

California counties: Siskiyou, Modoc, Plumas, Lassen, Santa Barbara, Riverside

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