Hooked navarretia, aka prickly skunk flower, is a small, erect annual that can be as tall as 12" but is more typically about 2"-6" tall, and has a skunky odor.  The flowers are very phlox-like and are subtended by widely-clasping pinnate bracts that are recurved and hooked at the tips.  The calyx has five unequal, toothed lobes and the corolla is funnelform and has an ample, dark purple throat and lobes.  There are five unequal stamens with exserted anthers and three stigmas.  The leaves are pinnate with 2-3 spreading lobes on each side and a 3-forked tip, and are clasping at the base. Hooked navarretia is usually found on dry often rocky slopes below 3000' in coastal sage scrub and inland chaparral from Baja to San Luis Obispo Co., blooming from April to June.  These pictures were taken in Tapia Park in the Santa Monica Mts.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Navarretia 2) hamata.
Pronunciation: nav-ar-ET-ee-a ha-MA-ta.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.