Zeltnera davyi

Davy's centaury

Family: Gentianaceae · Type: annual · Native

Davy's centaury is a California native annual found in coastal bioregions including the North Coast, Central Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, southern coastal ranges, and Channel Islands in moist coastal bluffs, dunes, and open forest at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces delicate white to pale pink flowers with rounded petals 3 to 7 millimeters long. Growing 2 to 30 centimeters tall with an open, branching structure, it develops thin, upright stems. Its cauline leaves are elliptic to ovate, measuring 8 to 25 millimeters long, positioned along the stem with a soft green coloration. The flower's distinctive calyx lobes are keeled, creating a subtle architectural profile to the plant's delicate blooms.

Habitat: Moist coastal bluffs, dunes, open forest

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: NCo, CCo, SnFrB, SCoRO, ChI.

California counties: Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, El Dorado, Santa Clara, Mendocino, Napa, Marin, Sonoma

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