Streptanthus polygaloides

Milkwort jewelflower

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Milkwort jewelflower is a native annual found in the northern Sierra Nevada Foothills and northern Sierra Nevada in serpentine barrens, chaparral openings, and sparse pine and cypress woodland at elevations of 200 to 1,100 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces white petals with distinctive red-purple veins in delicate, bilateral flowers with a unique banner-like hood formed by the upper sepals. Growing 2 to 8 decimeters tall with simple or branched stems, it displays an elegant structure with basal rosette leaves that are early-deciduous and wavy-dentate. Its leaves transition from broadly linear basal rosettes to thin, sessile linear cauline leaves with entire margins and occasionally lobed bases. The fruit is a slender, straight pendant pod 2.4 to 5.6 centimeters long, bearing 18 to 50 small oblong seeds with narrow wing margins.

Habitat: Serpentine barrens, chaparral openings, sparse pine/cypress woodland

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 200-1100 m.

Bioregions: SNF, n SNH.

California counties: Mariposa, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Placer, Sierra, Tuolumne, Fresno, Nevada, El Dorado, Siskiyou, Plumas

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