Thysanocarpus curvipes

Fringe pod

Family: Brassicaceae · Type: annual · Native

Fringe pod is a California native annual found in various bioregions in open grasslands, rocky areas, and disturbed sites. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces small purple flowers with purple fertile anthers, rarely featuring whitish or yellowish infertile anthers. Growing 10 to 60 centimeters tall with hairy stems, particularly near the base, it develops an open raceme of delicate blooms. Its leaves vary distinctively, with basal leaves 1 to 13 centimeters long, oblanceolate to obovate and slightly toothed, while cauline leaves are lanceolate with lobed bases that clasp the stem. The fruit is a distinctive winged pod 3 to 9 millimeters wide, with a flat or slightly incurved wing featuring unique spoon-shaped lobes.

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

California counties: Placer, San Luis Obispo, San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, El Dorado, Imperial, Lake, Mariposa, Monterey, Riverside, San Benito, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Del Norte, Santa Clara, Solano, Napa, Merced, Orange, Yuba, Fresno, Butte, Tulare, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus, Trinity, Tuolumne, Contra Costa, Calaveras, Madera, Amador, Nevada, Colusa, Sutter, Mendocino, San Mateo, Shasta, Sonoma, San Joaquin, Glenn, Sacramento, Alameda, Siskiyou, Marin, Humboldt, Lassen, Plumas, Yolo, Tehama, Modoc, San Francisco, Sierra, Alpine

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