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Mendocino spineflower

Chorizanthe howellii

Also called Howell's Spineflower

A tiny, ground-hugging annual wildflower native to coastal dunes in Mendocino County, California, and federally listed as endangered. It is a rare wild species rather than a garden plant, so cultivation is not recommended without conservation permits.

Family
Polygonaceae (Buckwheat family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Full sun
Water
Needs very little water; it grows in dry, sandy coastal conditions and is best left to rain.
Soil
Sandy, well-drained coastal dune soil.
Temperature
Cool coastal climate; tolerates mild, foggy conditions and frost-free winters.
How easy
Hard
Native range
California (C. Mendocino Co.)
Climate
subtropical

About

Chorizanthe howellii is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family known by the common names Mendocino spineflower and Howell's spineflower. It is endemic to coastal Mendocino County, California, where it is known only from the sand dunes and coastal scrub near Fort Bragg. It is estimated that 95% of the remaining individuals of this plant are part of a single population growing at MacKerricher State Park. It is a federally listed endangered species.

This is a decumbent or spreading species, growing hairy stems along the ground up to about 10 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a cluster of flowers, each surrounded by a starlike array of six spreading white bracts tipped with straight brown awns. The flower itself is a few millimeters wide and white to pale pink in color.

Other Chorizanthe plants

Narrowleaf spineflower · Irish Hills Spineflower · Twolobe spineflower · Blakley's spineflower · Brittle spineflower · San Luis Obispo spineflower · Wrinkled spineflower · San Francisco spineflower · Diffuse spineflower · Douglas' spineflower · Fringed spineflower · Ramona spineflower

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Chorizanthe howellii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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