Polyctenium fremontii

Desert combleaf

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Desert combleaf is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native perennial found in the Great Basin in saline soils, vernal pool edges, lake margins, meadows, and sagebrush scrub at elevations of 1,000 to 2,500 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white to pale purple flowers 5 to 6 millimeters long. Growing with woody-based stems 5 to 16 centimeters tall, it forms dense tufted clumps with many-branched hairs that give the plant a distinctive glaucous appearance. Its leaves are rigidly divided into 3 to 4 pairs of narrow linear lobes, with the terminal lobe 4 to 7 millimeters long and less than a millimeter wide. The plant produces linear siliques 4 to 13 millimeters long, developing from ascending flowers with erect sepals.

Habitat: Saline soils, vernal pool edges, lake margins, meadows, swales, mud flats, dry streambeds, gravel bars, sagebrush scrub

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 1000-2500 m

Bioregions: GB

California counties: Lassen, Modoc, Mono, Siskiyou, Plumas, Sierra

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