Pterostegia drymarioides

Fairy mist

Family: Polygonaceae · Type: annual · Native

Fairy mist is a California native annual herb found in sandy or gravelly habitats at elevations below 1,600 meters. Flowering from March to July, this delicate plant produces pale yellow to pink or rose flowers tiny and clustered in small terminal cymes. Growing as a sprawling herb with hairy stems spreading up to one meter in diameter, it forms intricate low-growing networks across its habitat. Its opposite cauline leaves are wide and entire or slightly lobed, measuring 0.3 to 2 centimeters long with distinctive wing-like bracts surrounding its tiny flowers. The fruits are small obconic structures, generally brown and winged, containing straight embryos.

Habitat: Common. Sand or gravel

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 1600 m

Bioregions: CA

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

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