Plagiobothrys leptocladus

Alkali plagiobothrys

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Alkali plagiobothrys is a California native annual found in the Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, southern coastal ranges, southern deserts, Great Basin, and western Mojave Desert in alkaline or saline clay soils, vernal pools, and wet places at elevations below 1,400 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces small white flowers with pale yellow appendages, forming delicate open clusters. Growing with prostrate to decumbent stems 10 to 30 centimeters long, it develops sparse to dense strigose hairs and may have a taproot. Its cauline leaves are 3 to 10 centimeters long, spreading along the slender stems. The fruit consists of small, lanceolate nutlets 1 to 1.8 millimeters long, which are grayish to brown with rounded margins.

Habitat: Generally alkaline or saline clay soils, vernal pools, wet places

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 1400 m

Bioregions: CaRF, GV, SnFrB, SCoR, SW, GB, w DMoj

California counties: Fresno, Los Angeles, Kern, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Riverside, San Benito, Tulare, Kings, Contra Costa, Yolo, Solano, Merced, Alpine, Inyo, Modoc, San Joaquin, Alameda, Tehama, Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Shasta, Madera, Mono, Stanislaus, San Bernardino, Ventura, Sonoma, Mariposa

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