Featured Plant

Calandrinia grandiflora rises out of a rosette of succulent gray-green leaves. The long stems bear many buds on shorter stems which open sequentially into brilliant purple, poppy-like flowers, their centers filled with golden stamens. There are 150 species of Calandrinia in western North America, Chile, and western Australia, all areas with mediterranean climates.

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The California Indians knew its relative, Calandrinia cilata, intimately, for the nourishing small black seeds that develop at the end of the flowering season, which they gathered in their seed baskets. Known as "Red Maids," it blooms in western grasslands in spring, and is only six inches tall compared to its three foot relative from Chile.