''Collomia tinctoria'' is a species of flowering plant in the
phlox family known by the common name staining collomia. It is native to the western United States from
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
to
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
to
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, where it grows in open, rocky habitat in mountains. It is an annual herb producing a slender, branched stem no taller than about 8 centimeters. The glandular, hairy leaves are lance-shaped. The
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
is composed of two or three flowers emerging from the leaf axils. Each flower has pointed
sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...
s tipped with
awns. The flower has a purplish tube and a pinkish corolla.
External links
Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
tinctoria
{{Polemoniaceae-stub