Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Comandra umbellata
bastard toadflax
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring chiefly east of the Cascades crest in Washington; Yukon Territory to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Dry to moist-but-sandy soil, sea level to subalpine; common in the shrub-steppe.

Flowers: April-August

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Description:
General:

Glabrous, parasitic, perennial herbs from rhizomes, the stems clustered, 5-30 cm. tall, erect.

Leaves:

Leaves alternate, entire, short-petiolate, linear-elliptic to lanceolate or oblong, 5-40 mm. long and 1-10 mm. broad, from thin, green on both surfaces to glaucous, thick and fleshy.

Flowers:

Flowers perfect, 3-7 mm. long, numerous in clusters of terminal and sub-terminal, small cymes; ovary inferior, surmounted by a disk surrounded by 5 white to purplish, broadly lanceolate, erect to spreading calyx lobes; stamens 5, opposite the calyx lobes, the filaments 1 mm. long, with a tuft of hairs at the base.

Fruits:

Drupe dry to fleshy, purplish to brown, 4-8 mm. long, bearing the persistent calyx.

Accepted Name:
Comandra umbellata (L.) Nutt.
Publication: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. [Nuttall]. 1: 157. 1818.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
(none provided)
Infraspecies:
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Comandra umbellata in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Comandra umbellata checklist entry

OregonFlora: Comandra umbellata information

E-Flora BC: Comandra umbellata atlas page

CalPhotos: Comandra umbellata photos

61 photographs:
Group by