The colors below indicate the kind of documentation available for this species
in the California counties where it occurs.
Yerba Mansa Anemopsis californica (Saururaceae)
The moisture loving Yerba Mansa has spinach-like leaves that arise from a stout aromatic rhizome (underground stem). It thrives in saline and alkaline soils that many plants find inhospitable. You are not observing one flower but a whole group of flowers arranged in an elongate cluster that superficially resembles an anemone flower. What look like petals are in fact white petaloid bracts (modified leaves). Each flower of 6 or 8 stamens and 3 fused pistils is subtended by a smaller white bract.
DISTRIBUTION: Common in saline or alkaline soil, wet or moist areas, seeps, and springs from the sw Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, South Coast and South Coast Ranges to the northern and southern Channel Islands, Peninsular Ranges, and Mojave Desert; 75-1700 m.
