Ravenella exigua

Chaparral harebell

Family: Campanulaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Chaparral harebell is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native annual found in eastern San Francisco Bay and northern Santa Cruz Mountains on talus slopes, generally in serpentine soil at elevations of 300 to 1,300 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces pale blue to white flowers in delicate funnel-shaped corollas 7 to 18 millimeters long with spreading tips. Growing with erect stems 5 to 20 centimeters tall that are sometimes stiff-haired, it has distinctive sessile leaves ranging from obovate at the base to nearly linear at the top. Its leathery leaves are few-toothed and measure 5 to 11 millimeters in length, with a distinctive variation in shape from base to tip. The fruit is an oblong, strongly ribbed structure with pores near its middle, bearing erect sepals.

Habitat: Talus slopes, generally serpentine soil

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 300-1300 m

Bioregions: e SnFrB, n SCoRI.

California counties: Santa Clara, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, Amador, Alameda, Calaveras, San Benito, Fresno, Butte

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