Triphysaria micrantha

Little butter 'n' eggs

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: annual · Native

Little butter 'n' eggs is a California native annual found in central Sierra Nevada Foothills, San Joaquin Valley, central Coast Coast, and southern Coast Ranges in grassland habitats at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces yellow flowers with a dark purple beak and subtle markings, generally 8 to 15 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 5 to 15 centimeters tall, ranging from dark purple to green and becoming increasingly hairy towards the upper portions. Its leaves are 7 to 25 millimeters long, occasionally featuring up to 5 subtle lobes. The tiny fruit measures 4 to 5 millimeters long, containing 50 to 80 dark brown seeds.

Habitat: Grassland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: c&amps SNF, SnJV, c CCo, SCoR.

California counties: Merced, Kern, Tulare, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Madera, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Monterey, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Calaveras, El Dorado, Nevada, Marin

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