Silene virginica, the fire pink, is a wildflower in the pink family, Caryophyllaceae. It is known for its distinct brilliant red flowers. Each flower is approximately five centimeters in diameter and composed of five notched, brilliant red petals which extend into a long tube. It is a small, short-lived perennial, with lance shaped leaves. Its stems, and the bases of the flowers, are covered in short sticky hairs. Fire pink begins blooming in late spring and continuing throughout the summer. It is sometimes grown in wildflower, shade, and rock gardens.
Solanum xanti, known commonly as chaparral nightshade, purple nightshade, and San Diego nightshade, is a member of the genus Solanum. It is native to the Western United States in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Oregon, and to northwest Mexico in Baja California.
Sibara is a genus of ten plant species in the family Brassicaceae known commonly as the winged rockcresses. They are native to North America. Sibara are similar to cardamines, sending up thin herbaceous stems that bear tiny white to purple flowers. Seeds are borne in flat, laterally compressed, fleshy fruits up to an inch long. Selected species:
Lycium andersonii is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Its common names include water-jacket, redberry desert-thorn, Anderson thornbush, Anderson's desert thorn, Anderson boxthorn, Anderson lycium, Anderson wolfberry, and squawberry.
Astragalus purshii is a species of milkvetch known by the common names woollypod milkvetch and Pursh's milkvetch.
Peltandra virginica is a plant of the arum family known as green arrow arum and tuckahoe. It is widely distributed in wetlands in the eastern United States, as well as in Quebec, Ontario, and Cuba. It is common in central Florida including the Everglades and along the Gulf Coast. Its rhizomes are tolerant to low oxygen levels found in wetland soils. It can be found elsewhere in North America as an introduced species and often an invasive plant.
Boechera breweri is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Brewer's rockcress.
Madia radiata is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names golden madia and showy madia. It is endemic to California, where it is known mostly from the Central Coast Ranges and adjacent edges of the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Valley.
Perideridia bolanderi is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae known by the common name Bolander's yampah. It is native to the western United States, where it grows in many types of habitat. It is a perennial herb which may approach one meter in maximum height, its slender, erect stem growing from tubers measuring up to 7 centimeters long. Leaves near the base of the plant have blades up to 20 centimeters long which are divided into many subdivided lobes of various sizes and shapes; the terminal segments are usually lined with teeth. Leaves higher on the plant are smaller and less divided. The inflorescence is a compound umbel of many spherical clusters of small white flowers. These yield ribbed, oblong-shaped fruits about half a centimeter long. The Atsugewi and Miwok of California used the tuberous roots of this plant for food.
Perideridia californica is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae known by the common name California yampah. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the Central Coast Ranges and a section of the Sierra Nevada foothills. It grows in moist soils, often near streams. It is a perennial herb which may approach 1.5 meters in maximum height, its slender, erect stem growing from cylindrical tubers measuring up to 12 centimeters long. Leaves near the base of the plant have blades up to 40 centimeters long which are divided into many flat, narrow, subdivided lobes. Leaves higher on the plant are smaller and less divided. The inflorescence is a compound umbel of many spherical clusters of small white flowers. These yield ribbed, oblong-shaped fruits under a centimeter long.
Perideridia lemmonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae known by the common names Lemmon's yampah and tuni. It is native to the western United States, where it is known from southeastern Oregon, western Nevada, and the mountains of eastern California. It grows in meadows, forests, and other habitat. It is a perennial herb approaching one meter in maximum height, its slender, erect stem growing from usually a single small tuber about 1.5 centimeters long. Leaves near the base of the plant have blades up to 30 centimeters long divided into one or two pairs of leaflets, each of which may be subdivided. The inflorescence is a compound umbel of many spherical clusters of small white flowers. These yield ribbed, round or oblong-shaped fruits each under half a centimeter long.
Raillardella argentea is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name silky raillardella. It is native to the Sierra Nevada and nearby mountain ranges of California, its distribution extending east into Nevada and north along the Cascade Range and Klamath Mountains into Oregon. It grows in many types of dry, open mountain habitat. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb growing in a clump of rosetted basal leaves. The leaves are lance-shaped, up to 8 centimeters long, and coated in silky hairs. The plant produces an inflorescence up to about 15 centimeters tall consisting of a solitary flower head which is cylindrical to somewhat bell-shaped. The head is enclosed in the fused outer scales of the flowers, which look similar to the phyllaries of many other species' flower heads. The head contains many yellow disc florets up to a centimeter long each, and no ray florets. The fruit is a long, narrow achene which may be 2 centimeters in length including its plumelike pappus.
Sedum laxum is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common name roseflower stonecrop. It is native to southwestern Oregon and northwestern California, where it can be found in rocky mountainous habitat. It is a succulent plant forming basal rosettes of oval or oblong leaves up to 3 centimeters long. The inflorescence is made up of one or more erect arrays of many flowers. The flowers have reddish or yellowish petals up to 1.3 centimeters long each.
Sedum oblanceolatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae known by the common names oblongleaf stonecrop and Applegate stonecrop. It is native to the Klamath Mountains of southwestern Oregon and far northern California, where it grows on many types of rocky substrate, such as serpentine soils and other ultramafics. It is a succulent plant forming basal rosettes of waxy leaves. The leaves are widely lance-shaped, widest near the distal end and narrowing to rounded or notched tips. Smaller leaves occur farther up the stem. The small inflorescence grows a few centimeters tall and bears up to 50 flowers in a flat-topped array. The flowers have cream or yellowish petals up to a centimeter long.
Senecio lyonii is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name island senecio. This island endemic is known only from Guadalupe Island off the coast of Baja California and two of the Channel Islands of California, Catalina and San Clemente Islands. It grows in the coastal sage scrub and chaparral of the islands' hills and canyons. It is a shrub or subshrub growing from a woody taproot and reaching top heights well over one meter. The leaves have blades up to 12 centimeters long which are divided deeply into many narrow lobes. The inflorescence is made up of many clusters of flower heads. Each head has narrow phyllaries usually tipped with black, yellow disc florets and a fringe of yellow ray florets each about a centimeter long.
Senna didymobotrya is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names African senna, popcorn senna, candelabra tree, and peanut butter cassia. It is native to Africa, where it can be found across the continent in several types of habitat.
Wyethia angustifolia is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names California compassplant and narrowleaf mule's ears. It is native to the west coast of the United States from Washington to California, where it grows in grassland, meadows, and other open habitat. It is a perennial herb growing from a tough taproot and caudex unit and producing a stem 30 to 90 centimeters tall. The leaves have lance-shaped blades up to 50 centimeters tall. The inflorescence produces one or more large sunflower-like flower heads at the top of the hairy stem. The head has narrow, hairy phyllaries at the base. It contains up to 21 yellow ray florets each up to 4.5 centimeters long and many yellow disc florets. The fruit is an achene which may be nearly 2 centimeters long including its pappus.
Aeschynomene virginica is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names Virginia jointvetch and sensitive jointvetch. It is native to a small section of the East Coast of the United States, where it has a fluctuating annual global population scattered in about 20 mostly small occurrences. Counts and estimates revealed two populations in New Jersey including several thousand individuals, one population of a few hundred plants in Maryland, several variable and unstable populations in ditches in North Carolina, and several populations including about 5000 individuals in Virginia. Habitat alteration has reduced the number of sites where the plant can grow. The plant became a federally listed threatened species of the United States in 1992.
Silene regia is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name royal catchfly. It is native to the central United States. A perennial herb, it grows from a fleshy taproot and has several erect stems growing up to 1.6 meters tall. The leaves are lance-shaped to oval and up to 12 centimeters long, becoming smaller farther up the stem. The inflorescence is an array of many flowers at the top of the stem. The elongate tubular calyx of sepals is up to 2.5 centimeters long and has 10 longitudinal veins. The lobes of the bright red corolla are 1 to 2 centimeters long.
Aureolaria virginica, the downy yellow false foxglove or downy oak leach, is a perennial forb native to the eastern United States and Canada, which produces yellow flowers in summer.
