Synthyris reniformis

Snow queen

Family: Plantaginaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Snow queen is a California native perennial found in northwestern California and San Francisco Bay Area regions in moist forest habitats at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces delicate blue flowers in curved racemes less than 15 millimeters long with soft, wavy hairy corollas. Growing with widely ovate leaves up to 7.5 centimeters long and 8.5 centimeters wide, its leaves have distinctively lobed bases and rounded tips. Its leaves are supported by petioles up to 13 centimeters long, giving the plant a graceful, low-growing appearance. The fruit is small, less than 4 millimeters long, and sparsely hairy, with seeds slightly cupped in shape.

Habitat: Moist forest

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: NW, SnFrB

California counties: Trinity, Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Modoc, Marin, Sonoma, Siskiyou

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