Plagiobothrys canescens

Grey popcorn flower

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Grey popcorn flower is a California native annual found in low-elevation grasslands and coastal areas. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces small white flowers with pale yellow appendages, typically 2 to 3 millimeters in diameter. Growing with prostrate to erect stems 10 to 60 centimeters tall that are softly canescent (grayish-white hairy), it has a delicate, spreading form. Its leaves are arranged in a basal rosette, with cauline leaves alternating up the stem, measuring 1.5 to 5 centimeters long. The fruit consists of 3 to 4 small round-ovate nutlets, each about 2 to 2.5 millimeters long with narrow ridges and wide, flat interspaces.

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Butte, Fresno, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Benito, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Napa, Tulare, Alameda, Tehama, Orange, San Diego, Santa Clara, Madera, Santa Cruz, Sutter, Shasta, Colusa, Merced, Mariposa, Yolo, Kings, Contra Costa, Ventura, Sacramento, El Dorado, Siskiyou, Solano, Amador, Inyo, Placer, Calaveras, Alpine, Lassen

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