Triglochin scilloides

Flowering-quillwort

Family: Juncaginaceae · Type: annual · Native

Flowering-quillwort is a native annual found in coastal, central, and great basin regions of California in vernal pools, streams, ponds, and lake margins at elevations below 1,700 meters. Flowering from March to October, this delicate aquatic plant produces inconspicuous greenish flowers in dense spikes that emerge from the water. Growing as a tufted plant that begins submersed and becomes partially emergent, it develops slender stems with thread-like leaves 5 to 20 centimeters long and less than 5 millimeters wide. Its distinctive leaves are elliptic to nearly round in cross-section, with a short ligule approximately 1 millimeter long with an obtuse or slightly notched tip. The fruit develops as a small ribbed achene 2 to 10 millimeters long, with a truncate tip featuring an off-center beak.

Habitat: Vernal pools, streams, ponds, lake margins

Bloom period: Mar-Oct

Elevation: < 1700 m

Bioregions: NCo, NCoRI, SN, GV, CW, SCo, PR, GB

California counties: Riverside, Butte, Tehama, Sacramento, Lassen, Nevada, Shasta, Placer, Yuba, Merced, Alameda, Contra Costa, Plumas, Mendocino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San Diego, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Solano, Monterey, Santa Clara, Yolo, Stanislaus, Tulare, Sonoma, Sierra, Napa, Tuolumne, Marin

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