Valeriana californica
California valerian
Family: Valerianaceae · Type: perennial · Native
California valerian is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Modoc Plateau, and eastern Sierra Nevada in moist conifer forests at elevations of 1,500 to 3,700 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces cream-white flowers in delicate clusters about 3 to 4.5 millimeters long. Growing with stems 25 to 50 centimeters tall that are nearly smooth or slightly hairy, it has a distinctive leafy structure with both basal and stem leaves. Its leaves are complex, with basal leaves ranging from simple to compound and occasionally deeply 3 to 5-lobed, featuring a terminal lobe larger than side lobes and typically ovate to obovate in shape. The fruit is a small, slightly ovoid structure 4 to 6 millimeters long, characteristic of the valerian genus.
Habitat: Moist places, conifer forest
Bloom period: Jun-Aug
Elevation: 1500-3700 m
Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, CaR, SNH, MP, SNE (exc W&I)
California counties: Nevada, Mono, El Dorado, Amador, Alpine, Modoc, Fresno, Sierra, Plumas, Placer, Siskiyou, Butte, Shasta, Tehama, Tuolumne, Tulare, Madera, Trinity, Humboldt, Mariposa, Lassen, Del Norte, Mendocino
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.