''Downingia bacigalupii'' is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family (

Campanulaceae The family Campanulaceae (also bellflower family), of the order Asterales, contains nearly 2400 species in 84 genera of herbaceous plants, shrubs, and rarely small trees, often with milky sap. Among them are several familiar garden plants belon ...

) known by the common name Bach's calicoflower or Bacigalupi's downingia. This showy wildflower is native to the western United States from

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 ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

, where it is a resident of moist meadows and

vernal pool Vernal pools, also called vernal ponds or ephemeral pools, are seasonal pools of water that provide habitat for distinctive plants and animals. They are considered to be a distinctive type of wetland usually devoid of fish, and thus allow the safe ...

ecosystems. This annual grows on a branching erect stem with small diamond-shaped leaves at intervals. At the top of each stem branch is one or more flowers, each between one and two centimeters wide. The flower has two long upper lobes which may be flat and straight or curl back, and are usually dark-veined blue. The three lower lobes are fused into one three-toothed surface, which is dark-veined blue with two bright yellow blotches rimmed with white in the center. The fruit is a dehiscent capsule two to five centimeters long. The

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s are fused together into an erect purple stalk bearing the dark anthers. The plant's Latin and common names are for Rimo Bacigalupi, who was known as "Bach."Full text of "Joyce E. Burr: Memories of Years Preceding and During the Formation of the California Native Plants Society, 1947–1996: Oral History Transcript 1992"; https://archive.org/stream/joyceeburrmemori00burrrich/joyceeburrmemori00burrrich_djvu.txt

References

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
bacigalupii {{Campanulaceae-stub