Coast Range western flax Coast Range western flax

Herbs, (3–)20–25(–30) cm, stout, usually hoary, hairs minute, straight, stiff, white, sometimes glabrous except on stems distal to nodes; branches usually from distal 1/3 to 2/3 of main axis, sometimes from base, alternate, widely spreading. Leaves alternate; stipular glands minute or absent; blade linear, 10–20 × 1–2 mm, base flat, not clasping, margins eglandular or minutely gland-toothed. Inflorescences: cymes usually monochasial (scorpioid), sometimes dichasial, open, internodes long, flowers widely scattered; bract margins eglandular or minutely gland-toothed. Pedicels 1–5(–8) mm, 5–10(–25) mm in fruit, straight in bud, spreading at 75–90° angle, not reflexed or bent at apex. Flowers: sepals erect, usually spreading at tip, lanceolate, 2–3 mm, equal, marginal glands small, surfaces glabrous or with hoary microscopic puberulence; petals widely spreading, white or pink to lavendar-pink or rose pink, veins usually pink, usually obovate, sometimes oblanceolate, (3–)4–5(–6) mm, apex notched, sometimes deeply; cup white, rim with petal attachment in shallow sinus; stamens exserted; filaments (2.5–)3–3.5(–4) mm; anthers usually pink, sometimes deep rose, white-margined, dehisced anthers (0.8–)1.2–1.8(–2) mm; ovary chambers 6; styles 3, white, (2.5–)3–4(–5) mm, exserted. 2n = 34.

Flowering Apr–Jul. Dry, rocky hillsides in chaparral in Pinus sabiniana belt, serpentine soils; 100–1000 m; Calif.

Hesperolinon disjunctum is found in the Inner North Coast Ranges and eastern San Francisco Bay area. Dwarf plants with short internodes and crowded branches sometimes occur intermixed with normal-sized plants. Restricted to serpentine soils, populations of H. disjunction are often distant from each other; Sharsmith noted that morphological disjunction accompanies the geographical disjunction.