Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Chorizanthe xanti is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family known by the common name Riverside spineflower. It is endemic to California, where it grows in several of the mountain ranges from the Sierra Nevada to the Southern California Transverse Ranges in forest, woodland, and scrub habitats. Chorizanthe xanti is generally erect in form, reaching up to about 30 centimeters in height, and reddish in color and coated in thin to dense hairs. The inflorescence is a loose cluster of flowers, each flower surrounded by six reddish, curly-haired bracts tipped with hooked awns. The flower is up to 6 millimeters wide and pink to red in color. There are two varieties of this species. Chorizanthe xanti is generally erect in form, reaching up to about 30 centimeters in height, and reddish in color and coated in thin to dense hairs. The inflorescence is a loose cluster of flowers, each flower surrounded by six reddish, curly-haired bracts tipped with hooked awns. The flower is up to 6 millimeters wide and pink to red in color. There are two varieties of this species. The rarer, var. leucotheca, is known only from the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains. It has a much more thickly woolly inflorescence than the more common variety.

Plant type

Annual herb

Size

1 - 12 in Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Red

Plant communities

Creosote Bush Scrub, Foothill Woodland, Joshua Tree Woodland, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 1 likely

Confirmed Likely