Pectocarya heterocarpa
Mixed-nut pectocarya, Mixed-Nut Pectocarya
Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native
Mixed-nut pectocarya is a California native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, Tehachapi, southwestern California, White and Inyo Mountains, and desert regions in washes, roadsides, and openings in creosote-bush scrub and Joshua-tree woodland at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from February to May, this delicate plant produces tiny white flowers with corolla limbs less than 1.5 millimeters in diameter. Growing with prostrate to ascending stems 2 to 25 centimeters long, it spreads low across open ground with a distinctive growth habit. Its leaves are small and inconspicuous, supporting intricate fruit structures with nutlets that curve in unusual planes and feature jagged or toothed wings. The plant produces unusual asymmetrical nutlets that spread in different directions, with some pairs curving inward while others extend outward from the flowering axis.
Habitat: Washes, roadsides, openings in creosote-bush scrub, Joshua-tree woodland
Bloom period: Feb-May
Elevation: < 1600 m
Bioregions: s SNF, Teh, SW, W&I, D
California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, San Diego, Kern, Santa Barbara, Imperial, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, 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.