Petalonyx thurberi

Sandpaper plant

Family: Loasaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Sandpaper plant is a California native shrub found in desert regions, growing in arid habitats at elevations between 100 to 1,000 meters. Flowering from spring to early summer, this plant produces delicate cream-colored flowers with petals 2.5 to 6.5 millimeters long, featuring well-exserted stamens. Growing as a compact shrub less than one meter tall, it develops stiff, densely packed branches. Its leaves are distinctive, clasping the stems and ranging from 4 to 45 millimeters long, with lanceolate to deltate-ovate shapes that can be entire or slightly toothed. The plant's rough-textured foliage gives it the common name "sandpaper plant," with leaves that are acute to acuminate in appearance.

California counties: San Diego, Kern, Los Angeles, Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, Inyo, Tulare

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