Plagiobothrys hispidulus

Harsh popcornflower

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Harsh popcornflower is a California native annual found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, high Cascades, Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and Great Basin in moist to drying meadows and conifer forest openings at elevations of 1,200 to 3,400 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces small white flowers with delicate, spreading petals approximately 1 to 2 millimeters in diameter. Growing with prostrate to erect stems 5 to 40 centimeters tall that are strigose (covered in straight, stiff hairs), it spreads across the ground in low, sprawling clusters. Its cauline leaves are relatively small, measuring 1 to 5 centimeters long and positioned along the stem. The fruit consists of tiny brown to black nutlets about 1.2 to 1.8 millimeters long, with a distinctive papillate-dentate ridge near the tip.

Habitat: Common. Moist to drying meadows, flats, conifer forest openings

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1200-3400 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoR, CaRH, SN, TR, PR, GB

California counties: Calaveras, Nevada, Modoc, Mariposa, Butte, San Bernardino, El Dorado, Santa Cruz, Mono, Tulare, Ventura, Placer, Alpine, Kern, Amador, Glenn, Humboldt, Madera, Mendocino, Lassen, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Sierra, Stanislaus, Trinity, Yuba, Fresno, Inyo, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Tuolumne, Lake

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