''Plagiobothrys mollis'' is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name soft popcornflower. It is native to

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, and the

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 ...

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 scrub and grassy habitat, especially in moist and wet areas.

Description

It is a perennial herb producing small, decumbent stems running along the ground and rooting at nodes. It is very hairy in texture, the hair is soft and long. The leaves on the stem may be arranged alternately or oppositely. 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 series of tiny white flowers up to 1 centimeter wide.

Varieties

There are two varieties of this plant. Most incidences are var. ''mollis''.
The other variety, var. ''vestitus'', is known only from the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

collected in the 19th century near Petaluma, California. It has not been seen since, and is presumed to be

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

External links

Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery

mollis Mollis is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Mollis is part of the municipality of Glarus Nord. History Mollis is first mentioned in 1288. Geography Mollis has an area, , of . Of this ...

Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of Nevada Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Boraginoideae-stub