''Navarretia jepsonii'' is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Jepson's pincushionplant, or Jepson's navarretia. 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

Inner North Coast Ranges The Inner North Coast Ranges occur along the east slope of the outer Northern California Coast Ranges. The term ''inner'' is a reference to the greater distances of the mountain ranges from the Pacific Ocean, compared to the ''outer'' ranges that ...

west of the

Sacramento Valley , photo =Sacramento Riverfront.jpg , photo_caption= Sacramento , map_image=Map california central valley.jpg , map_caption= The Central Valley of California , location = California, United States , coordinates = , boundaries = Sierra Nevada (ea ...

. It grows in grassland and chaparral and oak woodland habitat, often on

serpentine soil Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially anti ...

s. It is an annual herb producing a slender, reddish stem coated in white hairs and measuring 10 to 15 centimeters tall. The leaves are divided into many needlelike 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 of flowers lined with glandular red

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. Each flower is about a centimeter long and has a white tubular throat and a five-lobed purple-blue corolla.

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Navarretia jepsonii''UC Photos gallery
jepsonii Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Taxa named by Willis Linn Jepson Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Polemoniaceae-stub