Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Pediomelum californicum is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name California Indian breadroot. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the chaparral and woodlands of the coastal mountain ranges. It is a perennial herb with no stem or a short stem that is mostly underground, leaving the plant at ground level. The compound leaves are each made up of five to seven oval leaflets which may be nearly 3 centimeters long. The flower cluster is a raceme of several blue or purple pealike flowers each about a centimeter long. The fruit is a hairy oval beak-tipped legume pod up to a centimeter long containing smooth kidney-shaped seeds.

Plant type

Perennial herb

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Color

Purple, Blue

Sun

Full Sun, Partial Shade

Site type

Open places

Plant communities

Chaparral, Foothill Woodland, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland