Smithiastrum prenanthoides
California harebell
Family: Campanulaceae · Type: perennial · Native
California harebell is a native perennial herb found in northwestern California, the high Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, southern Sierra Nevada, central Coast Ranges, western San Francisco Bay Area, and northern southern Coast Ranges in montane redwood forests at elevations of 50 to 2,000 meters. Flowering from June to September, this plant produces blue flowers in nodding, raceme-like clusters with funnel-shaped corollas 7 to 14 millimeters long, their lobes erect in the lower half and reflexed in the upper half. Growing with sturdy stems 20 to 150 centimeters tall, it has leaves distributed evenly along the stem, each 10 to 60 millimeters long and serrate. Its leaves have short petioles generally less than 5 millimeters long, with a distinctive serrated edge. The fruit is hemispheric with a cordate base, strongly ribbed, with pores located at or below the middle of the structure.
Habitat: Montane, redwood forests
Bloom period: Jun-Sep
Elevation: 50-2000 m
Bioregions: NW, CaRH, nw&n-c SN, s SNH, CCo, w SnFrB, n SCoRO
California counties: Humboldt, Shasta, Tulare, Siskiyou, El Dorado, Mendocino, Marin, San Mateo, Trinity, Butte, Tehama, Plumas, Yuba, Nevada, Placer, Del Norte, Santa Cruz, Mariposa, Tuolumne, Sierra, Santa Clara, Lake, Calaveras
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.