The colors below indicate the kind of documentation available for this species
in the California counties where it occurs.
Baby Blue-eyes Nemophila menziesii var. menziesii (Hydrophyllaceae)
Baby Blue-eyes are annuals. The seeds that are dropped from the dry capsules of mature plants bake throughout the dry season and start to germinate with arrival of the first rains. If a botanist wants to conduct an inventory of all plants growing in a region, he or she must inspect the same area numerous times during the course of several years. One may find the flowers of an annual species on a spring hike. During a subsequent visit weeks or even months later there may be no detectable evidence of an annual species. Because the environmental conditions that trigger growth and flowering vary from year to year, annuals may not always be conspicuous elements of a local flora.
DISTRIBUTION: Grasslands, chaparral, wooded slopes and desert washes throughout the Calif. Floristic Province to the Mojave Desert; 15-1600 m.
