Stutzia covillei

Coville's orach, Coville's Orach

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: annual · Native

Coville's orach is a California native annual found in the San Joaquin Valley, eastern Sierra Nevada, and Mojave Desert on saline soils and flats at elevations below 2,100 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces small translucent flowers on many-branched green stems. Growing 10 to 45 centimeters tall with multiple branches emerging from its base, the plant has a distinctively striate stem that is glabrous or lightly scaled. Its leaves are fleshy and brittle, ranging 10 to 40 millimeters long, with lanceolate to deltate blades that taper or become hastate at the base. The fruit develops with 5 to 20 millimeter bracts that are partially fused and lanceolate to deltate in shape.

Habitat: Saline soils, flats

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: < 2100 m

Bioregions: SnJV, SNE, DMoj

California counties: Kern, Inyo, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Mono, San Luis Obispo

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