Foothill Jepsonia

Jepsonia heterandra Eastw. Bull. Torrey Club 32 : 201. 1905
Caudex simple or branched, often thick and woody, scaly ; leaves erect or ascending, the petioles becoming 2.5-5 cm, long, usually hirsute, the blades suborbicular, 3.5-6 cm. broad, shallowly lobed and toothed, more or less pubescent about the veins beneath, deeply cordate, the basal lobes strongly overlapping ; scapes often tufted, 1-3.3 dm. tall, finely pubescent at least when young; cal>'x-lobes broadly ovate, about 2 mm. long, somewhat shorter than the campanulate tube and hypanthium ; hypanthium broad, with a turbinate base, ultimately slightly veiny ; petals 5-6 mm. long, the blades ovate to oval, abruptly narrowed into short claws ; follicles long-exserted beyond the calyx, the bodies
5-6 mm. long, turbinate at the base, the tips slightly shorter than the bodies.
Type locality : Mariposa County, California. Distribution: Ravines, middle California.

Jepsonia heterandra is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family known by the common name foothill jepsonia. It is endemic to the foothills of the central section of the Sierra Nevada in California, where it grows in woodland and forest. This is a small perennial plant growing two or three leaves from a branching caudex. The flat, green leaves are round or kidney-shaped with frilly lobes along the edges. Flowering occurs in fall. The plant produces an inflorescence of several pinkish flowers on a tall peduncle. The fruit is a red-striped green or pink capsule.