Parry's jepsonia is a very small herbacious perennial with a flowering scape that is glandular-puberulent to glabrate and that can be up to 12" tall in a wet year but more typically is only about 4-6" tall.  The leaves are few, generally only one, pubescent, and often inconspicuous.  The petals are white with tan to purple veins and are about 1/8-1/4" long.  The fruit is green or tan and brown-striped.  This usually overlooked flower is an inhabitant of moist shaded banks below 3000' in coastal sage scrub and chaparral from sw San Bernardino Co. to Orange, Riverside and San Diego Cos., blooming from October to December.  A second Jepsonia species, Jepsonia malvifolia, resides on the Channel Islands.  The first three pictures were taken in the Blue Sky Ecological Reserve near San Diego, and the fourth is from Torrey Pines State Park.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Jepsonia 2) parryi.
Pronunciation: jep-SONE-ee-a PARE-ee-eye.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.