Oxytheca perfoliata

Round-leaf puncturebract, Round-Leaf Puncturebract

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: annual · Native

Round-leaf puncturebract is a California native annual found in southern San Joaquin Valley, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions in sandy or gravelly habitats at elevations of 600 to 1,900 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces white to yellow-green or pink flowers in small clusters approximately 1.5 to 2.5 millimeters long. Growing with spreading stems 6 to 20 centimeters wide and reaching up to 20 centimeters in diameter, it forms low, sprawling plants across the ground. Its leaves have blades 1 to 6 centimeters long, 0.3 to 1.5 centimeters wide, with distinctive ciliate margins and a glabrous surface. The plant's unique inflorescence features bracts fused around nodes, forming distinctive clusters 1 to 2.5 centimeters in diameter with small red-tipped awns.

Habitat: Common. Sand or gravel

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: 600-1900 m

Bioregions: s SnJV, GB, DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Mariposa, Santa Barbara, Kern, Mono, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Tulare, Lassen, San Benito

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