Silene antirrhina

Sleepy catchfly

Family: Caryophyllaceae · Type: annual · Native

Sleepy catchfly is a California native annual found in California Floristic Province, Modoc Plateau, and desert regions in open areas and burns at elevations below 1,800 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces white to red flowers in delicate clusters with petals approximately 2.5 millimeters long. Growing with erect stems 12 to 80 centimeters tall, the plant has distinctively sticky upper stems that become progressively more slender towards the top. Its leaves transition from oblanceolate at the base to linear or narrow oblanceolate near the stem's top, measuring 1 to 3 centimeters long and 3 to 5 millimeters wide. The tiny gray-black seeds are less than 1 millimeter in size, contributing to the plant's delicate and ephemeral nature.

Habitat: Open areas, burns

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: < 1800 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, MP, D (uncommon)

California counties: San Diego, San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles, Monterey, Butte, Fresno, Kern, Lake, Napa, Riverside, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tehama, Tulare, Ventura, Mariposa, Amador, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Madera, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Marin, Glenn, Humboldt, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Modoc, Calaveras, Colusa, Yolo, Mendocino, Alameda, Plumas

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