Zeltnera venusta

California centaury, charming centaury, Charming Centaury

Family: Gentianaceae · Type: annual · Native

California centaury is a California native annual found in the Klamath Ranges, southern North Coast Ranges, North Coast Ranges, Cascade Range foothills, Sierra Nevada Foothills, eastern San Joaquin Valley, southwestern California (excluding northern Channel Islands), Sierra Nevada eastern edges, and Mojave Desert in dry grasslands, scrub, chaparral, and woodland openings at elevations below 1,800 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces delicate, pale pink to white flowers with corolla tubes 16 to 30 millimeters long and slender lobes 5 to 20 millimeters long. Growing with slender stems 3 to 50 centimeters tall, it forms an open, graceful structure with multiple branching stems. Its narrow cauline leaves range from 5 to 25 millimeters long, with an elongated oval to lance-like shape positioned along the stem. The plant's intricate flower structure features two-lobed stigmas and lanceolate to spoon-shaped petals with obtuse to slightly pointed tips.

Habitat: dry grassland, scrub, chaparral, openings in woodland

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: < 1800 m

Bioregions: KR, s NCoRO, NCoRI, CaRF, SNF, e SnJV, SW (exc n ChI), SNE, DMoj

California counties: San Bernardino, Tulare, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Fresno, Orange, Amador, Butte, Shasta, Tehama, Lake, Monterey, Yuba, Nevada, Calaveras, Madera, Marin, Tuolumne, Ventura, Mariposa, El Dorado, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Placer, Inyo, Imperial, Sacramento, Colusa, Stanislaus, Yolo

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