Global Menu

  • Neon Science
  • Data Portal
  • Biorepository
  • NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems
  • Biorepository Data Portal

  • Search
    • Sample search
    • Map search
    • Dynamic Species List
    • Taxonomic Explorer
  • Images
    • Image Browser
    • Image Search
  • Checklists
    • Research Sites - Invertebrates
    • Research Sites - Plants
    • Research Sites - Vertebrates
  • Sample Use
    • Sample Use Policy
    • Sample Request
    • Data Usage Policy
  • Additional Information
    • Tutorials and Help
    • About NEON
    • NEON Data Portal
    • ASU Biocollections
    • About Symbiota
  • Getting Started
Login New Account Sitemap
Plagiobothrys tenellus (Nutt. ex Hook.) A. Gray  
Family: Boraginaceae
Pacific popcornflower
[Plagiobothrys asper Greene]
Plagiobothrys tenellus image
Max Licher  
  • Field Guide
  • Web Links
Kearney and Peebles, 1969, Welsh et al. 1993, Jepson 1993
Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Small annual, arising from a basal rosette, branching from the base, covered with spreading, appressed hairs. Leaves: Sparse, simple, reducing in number apically, sessile and slightly clasping at the base, covered with long, strigose hairs, leaf surface shiny green beneath the hairs, sometimes tending to purple at the tips, leaf margins slightly revolute. Basal leaves oblanceolate, to 2.5 cm long. Flowers: White, small, with 5 small lobes, yellow in the centers, lobes 2-3 mm long and wide. Not flowering near the base. Fruits: Nutlets thick and cruciform, but still small, to 2 mm, ridged on the margins, pale in color. Ecology: Found in sagebrush, pi-on-juniper, and ponderosa pine communities, from 5,000-8,500 ft (1524-2591 m), flowers March-May. Notes: This species is better known as the popcorn flower, look for its strigose bristles to help identify this annual when not in flower, and when flowering, this species is identified by its cruciform, ridged nutlets and apical flowering habit. Ethnobotany: Unknown Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011 Etymology: Plagiobothrys is derived from two Greek words plagios, "oblique or placed sideways," and bothros, "a pit or scar," hence meaning "hollow at the side," and possibly referring to the pitted face of the nutlets or the position of the nutlet attachment scar on P. fulvus, the first known species, while tenella comes from the Latin meaning "quite delicate, dainty".
  • BOLD Systems - Barcode of Life Data Systems
  • Encyclopedia of Life
  • Flora of North America
  • Google Images
  • Google Search Engine
  • International Plant Names Index
  • NCBI - National Center for Biotechnology Information
  • USDA PLANTS Database
  • W3Tropicos
Plagiobothrys tenellus
Open Interactive Map
Plagiobothrys tenellus image
Max Licher  
Plagiobothrys tenellus image
Max Licher  
Click to Display
3 Total Images
NSF NEON | Open Data to Understand our Ecosystems The National Ecological Observatory Network is a major facility fully funded by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.