Tropaeolum majus

Garden nasturtium

Family: Tropaeolaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Garden nasturtium is a naturalized perennial found in northern coastal, central coastal, San Francisco Bay, southern coastal, and southern Channel Islands bioregions in disturbed areas, moist or shaded coastal scrub, and wooded flats or slopes at elevations below 450 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces vibrant orange or yellow flowers with orange markings, 2.5 to 6 centimeters in diameter and featuring a distinctive nectar spur over 3 centimeters long. Growing with trailing or climbing stems over 1 meter in length, it spreads across the landscape with remarkable vigor. Its round to kidney-shaped leaves have distinctive palmate veining and petioles 5 to 25 centimeters long, creating a lush green backdrop for the brilliant blooms. The fruit develops as broadly ovate segments more than 1.5 centimeters long and over 2 centimeters wide, with deeply lobed structure.

Habitat: Disturbed areas, moist or shaded areas in coastal scrub, wooded flats or slopes

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: < 450 m

Bioregions: NCo, CCo, SnFrB, SCo, s ChI

California counties: Los Angeles, Ventura, San Diego, Monterey, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Orange, Santa Clara, Santa Barbara, Kern, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Alameda, Humboldt, Mendocino

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