''Navarretia filicaulis'' is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name threadstem pincushionplant. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 is known only from the foothills of the northern

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

and far southern

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

. It grows in

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

, woodland, and other local habitat. It is a hairy, glandular annual herb producing a crooked, slender, branching stem up to about 18 centimeters tall. The leaves are up to 3 centimeters long and divided into threadlike lobes. 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 a head filled with palmate green

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s speckled with resin glands. The tubular purple flowers are under a centimeter long.

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
filicaulis Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora of the Cascade Range Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polemoniaceae-stub