Zeltnera arizonica

Arizona centaury

Family: Gentianaceae · Type: annual · Native

Arizona centaury is a California native annual found in lower elevation regions, particularly in open, damp places and along streambanks at elevations of 50 to 100 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces delicate white to pale pink flowers with lanceolate lobes 9 to 12 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 20 to 60 centimeters tall, it forms a distinctive basal rosette of oblanceolate leaves. Its leaves range from 15 to 70 millimeters long, with lower basal leaves forming a rosette and upper cauline leaves becoming progressively more lanceolate. The plant produces an open inflorescence with flower pedicels extending 4 to 40 millimeters long.

Habitat: Open, damp places, especially streambanks

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 50-100 m

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