Streptanthus drepanoides

Sickle-fruit jewelflower

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Sickle-fruit jewelflower is a rare (CNPS 4.3) California native annual found in southern Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, and northern Sierra Nevada Foothill regions in open chaparral and Jeffrey-pine woodland on serpentine at elevations of 250 to 1,800 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white to purple flowers with distinctive purple-veined petals approximately 7 to 10 millimeters long. Growing with erect stems 40 to 350 centimeters tall that are generally glabrous and either simple or branched at the base, it develops succulent leaves with fascinating variation. Its leaves range from round basal leaves with few blunt teeth to mid-stem leaves 1.3 to 9 centimeters long, broadly ovate and sometimes cordate at the base, with entire or shallowly dentate margins. The fruit is a distinctively curved, slender pod spreading 3 to 9 centimeters long and containing 30 to 50 small seeds.

Habitat: Open chaparral or Jeffrey-pine woodland, on serpentine

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 250-1800 m

Bioregions: s-most KR, NCoRH, n NCoRI, n SNF (Butte Co.).

California counties: Tehama, Glenn, Butte, Colusa, Shasta, Trinity

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