Verbena californica

Red hills vervain, Red Hills Vervain

Family: Verbenaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1 · Threatened

Red hills vervain is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native perennial found in central Sierra Nevada foothills in Tuolumne County, specifically in wet places and serpentine soils within pine and oak woodland at elevations of 300 to 400 meters. Flowering from May to September, this plant produces violet to purple flowers in compact spikes 10 to 24 centimeters long. Growing with one to three decumbent to erect stems 30 to 75 centimeters tall, it has a slightly fuzzy or canescent appearance. Its leaves are elliptic to oblanceolate, 2 to 9 centimeters long, with entire or slightly toothed edges and a base that ranges from tapered to truncate. The small fruits are approximately 2 millimeters long, developing in open clusters that do not overlap.

Habitat: Wet places, seeps, generally serpentine soils, pine/oak woodland

Bloom period: May-Sep

Elevation: 300-400 m

Bioregions: c SNF (Tuolumne Co.).

California counties: Tuolumne

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