Streptanthus breweri

Brewer's jewelflower

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Brewer's jewelflower is a California native annual found in southern Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, eastern San Francisco Bay Area, and southern Coast Ranges in serpentine barrens within chaparral and woodland habitats at elevations of 250 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white or purple-veined white flowers with distinctive purple or white sepals, creating delicate blossoms up to 12 millimeters long. Growing 1.5 to 6.5 decimeters tall with glaucous stems that are simple or branched at the base, it has a slender, upright form. Its leaves vary distinctively, with basal leaves broadly ovate to obovate, mid-stem leaves 1.5 to 10 centimeters long that clasp the stem, and upper leaves becoming progressively smaller and narrowly lanceolate. The fruit develops as an erect to ascending pod 3 to 9 centimeters long, often strongly arched or recurved, containing 24 to 54 small oblong seeds.

Habitat: Serpentine barrens in chaparral or woodland

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 250-2100 m

Bioregions: s-most KR, NCoRH, c&amps NCoRI, e SnFrB, SCoRI.

California counties: Mendocino, Humboldt, Lake, Trinity, Stanislaus, Glenn, Santa Clara, Napa, Colusa, Alameda, Sonoma, Fresno, San Benito, Shasta

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