Plagiobothrys tenellus

Pacific popcornflower

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Pacific popcornflower is a California native annual found in the California Floristic Province, Modoc Plateau, and western deserts on dry, open slopes in grassland, scrub, woodland, and forest at elevations below 1,700 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces small white flowers with pale yellow appendages in delicate clusters. Growing with erect stems 5 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms 1 to many slender stems with sparse spreading hairs. Its leaves form a basal rosette 1 to 5 centimeters long, with a few alternate cauline leaves along the stem. The distinctive fruits are tiny cross-shaped nutlets 1 to 2 millimeters long, with shiny surfaces and intricate ridged textures.

Habitat: Common. Dry, open slopes in grassland, scrub, woodland, forest

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 1700 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, MP, w D

California counties: San Luis Obispo, Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Lake, San Diego, Lassen, San Benito, Butte, Nevada, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Plumas, San Bernardino, Santa Clara, Riverside, Mendocino, Napa, Siskiyou, Modoc, Orange, Los Angeles, Madera, Tuolumne, Trinity, San Joaquin, Santa Cruz, Mariposa, Ventura, El Dorado, Sonoma, Colusa, San Mateo, Marin, Sierra, Shasta, Tehama, Yuba, Glenn, Yolo, Humboldt, Contra Costa, Alameda, Calaveras, Stanislaus, Sacramento, Sutter, Del Norte, Alpine, Amador, Solano

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