Pedicularis aurantiaca

Mountain warrior's plume

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mountain warrior's plume is a California native perennial found in montane conifer forest at elevations of 600 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces deep red to red-purple or orange-yellow flowers on stems 10 to 50 centimeters tall, with distinctive downward-bent blossoms. Growing with soft to coarse brown-hairy stems, it features complex leaf structures with 13 to 41 densely packed segments that are often crowded and partially overlapping. Its basal leaves extend 5 to 20 centimeters long, with segments ranging from linear to ovate, deeply double-lobed and dentate. The plant produces fruits 8 to 13 millimeters long with seeds featuring a distinctive netted surface.

Habitat: Montane conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: (150)600-2100 m

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