Plagiobothrys verrucosus

Forget-me-not popcornflower

Family: Boraginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.1

Forget-me-not popcornflower is a rare (CNPS 2B.1) California native annual found in the southeastern San Francisco Bay Area's Mount Hamilton Range in open chaparral with gravelly soil at elevations of 700 to 850 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces small white flowers with pale yellow appendages and a pink-stained corolla limb approximately 1.5 to 3 millimeters in diameter. Growing with erect reddish stems 5 to 20 centimeters tall that are covered in stiff, spreading hairs, it develops a distinctive basal rosette of leaves 1 to 3 centimeters long. Its leaves are primarily basal with alternate cauline leaves that are ovate in shape, complemented by bracts throughout the inflorescence. The fruit consists of small brown nutlets about 1.5 millimeters long, featuring irregular papillae and tubercles across its surface.

Habitat: Open chaparral, gravelly soil, +- fire follower

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 700-850 m

Bioregions: se SnFrB (Mount Hamilton Range)

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