Pedicularis densiflora

Warrior's plume, Warrior's Plume

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Warrior's plume is a California native perennial found in northwestern, northern California, Sierra Nevada foothills, Tehama County, central western, and southwestern regions in chaparral, oak and pine woodlands, and mixed forests at elevations of 30 to 1,200 meters. Flowering from February to May, this plant produces deep red to red-purple (occasionally orange-yellow or white) flowers with a distinctive downward-bent corolla 23 to 43 millimeters long. Growing 6 to 55 centimeters tall with stems that range from nearly smooth to soft or coarse brown-hairy, it develops a robust, upright form. Its basal leaves are 5 to 28 centimeters long with 13 to 41 crowded segments that are often linear to ovate, deeply lobed and toothed. The flowers feature a hooded upper lip 15 to 25 millimeters long and a lower lip with nearly equal lobes, creating a striking silhouette in its woodland habitats.

Habitat: Chaparral, oak/pine woodland, mixed forest

Bloom period: Feb-May

Elevation: 30-1200 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SNF, Teh, CW, SW

California counties: Humboldt, Mendocino, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Colusa, Plumas, Fresno, Contra Costa, Orange, Santa Clara, Monterey, Napa, Riverside, Marin, Sonoma, San Mateo, Solano, Trinity, Lake, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Tehama, San Benito, San Diego, Glenn, Kern, Butte, Ventura, San Bernardino, Shasta, Siskiyou, Amador, Modoc, Mariposa, Yuba, Nevada, Tulare, Alameda, Calaveras, Stanislaus, Madera, Sierra, Yolo, Alpine, Inyo, Mono

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