Plectritis macrocera

Long horn plectritis

Family: Valerianaceae · Type: annual · Native

Long horn plectritis is a California native annual found in the California Floristic Province and North Coast Ranges in open and partly shaded slopes at elevations below 2,000 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces white to pale pink flowers with radial symmetry and delicate, thick blunt spurs. Growing with slender stems, it forms small compact plants typically less than 30 centimeters tall. Its leaves are simple and arranged along the stem, providing a delicate backdrop to the small, subtle flowers. The fruit develops with a distinctive lengthwise groove and a white, winged structure that becomes wider and more pronounced as it matures.

Habitat: Common. Open, partly shaded slopes

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 2000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, MP

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

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