Plagiobothrys tener var. tener

Slender popcornflower

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Slender popcornflower is a California native annual found in northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, and western Modoc Plateau in wet places including vernal pools within chaparral, oak woodland, and conifer forest at elevations of 160 to 1,340 meters. Flowering from April to July, this delicate plant produces small white flowers with corolla limbs 4 to 9 millimeters in diameter. Growing with spreading to erect stems that are sparse-strigose, it reaches variable heights with thin, sparse-strigose leaves. Its narrow leaves are lightly covered with stiff, appressed hairs, giving the plant a soft, textured appearance. The fruit consists of small brown nutlets approximately 1.2 to 1.8 millimeters long, with a narrow-ovate to triangular scar typically near the base.

Habitat: Wet places, vernal pools in chaparral, oak woodland, conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 160-1340 m

Bioregions: NCoR, CaR, w MP.

California counties: Lake, Sonoma, Shasta, Napa, Tehama, Modoc

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