Streptanthus farnsworthianus

Farnsworth's jewelflower

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Farnsworth's jewelflower is a rare (CNPS 4.3) California native annual found in central and southern Sierra Nevada Mountains in Madera and Fresno counties within foothill woodland at elevations of 400 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces white flowers with violet veins, each petal 8 to 11 millimeters long and recurved with delicate crinkled edges. Growing with erect stems 20 to 100 centimeters tall that are generally green to purple-green and either simple or branched towards the top, it develops a distinctive early-deciduous basal rosette. Its leaves range from 2-pinnately lobed basal leaves to mid-stem lanceolate leaves 3 to 16 centimeters long, which clasp the stem and are often dentate towards the tip. The fruit develops as an ascending pod 6 to 12 centimeters long, containing 60 to 100 small ovate seeds.

Habitat: Foothill woodland

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 400-1400 m

Bioregions: c SN (Madera, Fresno cos.), s SN.

California counties: Madera, Kern, Tulare, Fresno, Sierra

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