Pholistoma auritum

Blue fiestaflower

Family: Hydrophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Blue fiestaflower is a California native annual found in lower elevation areas, growing in open grasslands and woodland edges. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces vibrant blue to purple flowers with darker throat markings, creating delicate clusters 5 to 30 millimeters wide. Growing 20 to 120 centimeters tall with slender, branching stems, it displays distinctive wide-winged leaf petioles that clasp the stem. Its lower leaves are broadly oblong to lance-shaped, 4 to 16 centimeters long, with 5 to 13 distinctive lobes that are oblong or lanceolate and sometimes lightly toothed. Small fruits approximately 5 to 10 millimeters wide are nestled within the plant's calyx.

California counties: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Kern, San Diego, Ventura, Riverside, Orange, Tulare, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Monterey, Alameda, Mariposa, Madera, San Bernardino, San Benito, Stanislaus, Merced, Calaveras, Santa Cruz, Marin, Contra Costa, Tuolumne, Butte, San Joaquin, Inyo, Mendocino

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