Plagiobothrys austiniae

Austin's spiny-nut popcornflower

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Austin's spiny-nut popcornflower is a California native annual found in the northern Sierra Nevada Foothills, eastern Sacramento Valley, and northeastern San Joaquin Valley in vernal pools and wet clay areas at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces small white flowers with yellow appendages less than 2.5 millimeters in diameter. Growing with decumbent to erect stems 10 to 40 centimeters tall, the plant is strigose and has cauline leaves 1 to 5 centimeters long. Its lower leaves are small and slender, positioned along the stem in a sparse arrangement. The distinctive fruit features ovate nutlets 2 to 3 millimeters long with prominent lateral ridges and occasional stout, barb-tipped prickles that give the plant its spiny character.

Habitat: Common in north. Vernal pools, wet areas in thin rocky, clay soils

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: CaRF, n&ampc SNF, e ScV, ne SnJV

California counties: Sacramento, Butte, Calaveras, Stanislaus, Tehama, Merced, San Joaquin, Shasta, Colusa, San Benito, Tuolumne, Amador, Placer, Fresno

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