Valerianella locusta

Corn salad

Family: Valerianaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Corn salad is a naturalized annual found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Cascade Range, northern Sierra Nevada, northern Sacramento Valley, Central Coast, and San Francisco Bay Area in moist, generally shaded sites at elevations below 1,400 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces small white flowers with subtle blue lobes. Growing with sparsely hairy stems 10 to 45 centimeters tall, the plant has a delicate, upright form. Its leaves vary from obovate to narrowly oblong, with lower leaves petioled and upper leaves nearly sessile, ranging from 0.5 to 3 centimeters long and occasionally featuring subtle dentate edges on distal leaves. The small fruits are approximately 2 to 3 millimeters wide, contributing to its compact and unassuming appearance.

Habitat: Moist, generally shaded sites

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 1400 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRO, CaRH, n SN, n ScV, CCo, SnFrB

California counties: Trinity, Siskiyou, Amador, El Dorado, Calaveras, Marin, Contra Costa, Yuba, Colusa, Plumas, Mendocino

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