Common Name: BORAGE FAMILY Habit: Annual, perennial herb, or shrub, often bristly or sharp-hairy. Stem: prostrate-decumbent to erect. Leaf: basal and/or cauline, simple, generally alternate, sometimes opposite, especially at base. Inflorescence: cymes, arranged singly or in groups of 2--5, generally coiled in flower, generally elongating in fruit. Flower: bisexual, generally radial; sepals 5, free or fused at least at base; corolla 5-lobed, salverform, funnel-shaped, rotate, or bell-shaped, appendages (often called "fornices") 0 or 5 at top of tube, when present often differentially pigmented, alternate stamens; stamens epipetalous; ovary superior, 4-lobed, style 1, entire or minutely 2-lobed (2-branched). Fruit: nutlets 1--4, when > 1, all similar (often called "homomorphic") or 1 or 2 dissimilar in size and/or shape from the others (often called "heteromorphic"), free (fused), smooth to roughened, prickly or bristly or not. Genera In Family: +- 90 genera, +- 1600--1700 species: mostly temperate, especially western North America, Mediterranean; some cultivated (Borago, Echium, Myosotis, Symphytum). Toxicity: Many genera may be TOXIC from pyrrolizidine alkaloids or accumulated nitrates. Note: Sometimes still treated in broader sense of TJM2 (e.g., APG IV 2016 Bot J Linn Soc 181:1--20), but recent evidence (Luebert et al. 2016) supports segregation, for our flora, of the families Ehretiaceae, Heliotropiaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, Lennoaceae, and Namaceae. eFlora Treatment Author: Michael G. Simpson, C. Matt Guilliams, Kristen Hasenstab-Lehman & Ronald B. Kelley Scientific Editor: Bruce G. Baldwin, C. Matt Guilliams, Kristen Hasenstab-Lehman, David J. Keil, Ronald B. Kelley, Robert W. Patterson, Thomas J. Rosatti & Michael G. Simpson
Etymology: (Greek: Simpson's flower, for Michael G. Simpson, CA botanist, 1953) Note: More closely related to Amsinckia and Amsinckiopsis than to Plagiobothrys (where previously included) based on molecular phylogenetic studies (Guilliams et al. 2020). eFlora Treatment Author: C. Matt Guilliams & Kristen Hasenstab-Lehman Reference: Guilliams et al. 2020 Novon 28:51--59
NATIVE Habit: Annual, few- to several-branched throughout, taprooted. Stem: ascending to erect, to 5 dm, sharp-spreading-bristly. Leaf: cauline, alternate, sessile, oblong to elliptic, sometimes lanceolate on distal stem, 2--10 cm, generally rough-bristly with bulbous-based hairs, sometimes soft-bristly and/or short-fine-hairy. Inflorescence: raceme- or spike-like cymes, coiled in bud, generally elongate in fruit; bracts proximal; pedicel 0--1 mm. Flower: calyx lobes free to base, narrowly lanceolate to +- linear, soft-bristly, margins often ciliate, 4--9 mm in fruit; corolla +- funnel-shaped, white, limb 1--3 mm diam, appendages minute, light yellow, fading to white. Fruit: nutlets 3--4, 2--3 mm, triangular-ovate, abaxially cobblestone-like, coarse tubercles 0, abaxial and lateral ridges +- ill-defined or 0, transverse ridges and grooves 0, adaxially keeled; attachment scar at middle of adaxial keel crest, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly triangular, irregular, length +- 1/2 of nutlet. Ecology: Sandy, gravelly, rocky washes and slopes, creosote-bush scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland; Elevation: 90--1900 m. Bioregional Distribution: s SNH, SNE, D; Distribution Outside California: to southern Utah, western Arizona, Mexico. Flowering Time: (Jan)Mar--May(Jun) Note: Resembles Amsinckia tessellata var. tessellata (in which corolla is yellow). Synonyms: Plagiobothrys jonesii A. Gray Jepson eFlora Author: C. Matt Guilliams & Kristen Hasenstab-Lehman Reference: Guilliams et al. 2020 Novon 28:51--59 Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Simpsonanthus Next taxon: Sonnea
Botanical illustration including Simpsonanthus jonesii
Citation for this treatment: C. Matt Guilliams & Kristen Hasenstab-Lehman 2021, Simpsonanthus jonesii, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 9, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=82941, accessed on January 26, 2025.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2025, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on January 26, 2025.
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurrence).
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Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
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Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
