About
Find Nurseries
Design & Inspiration
California Garden Planner
Bay Area Garden Planner (NEW)
Planting Guide
Butterflies
My Plant Lists
Contact Us
Sign In
Donate
Advanced Search
Contact Us
Sign In
Donate
Home
Advanced Search
Map Locator
View Settings
Nurseries Carrying this Plant
Add Current Plant To List
Edit Current Plant
Show all Photos
About Calscape
Nurseries
California Garden Planner
Bay Area Garden Planner (NEW)
Planting Guide
Butterflies
My Plant Lists
Contact Calscape
Donate
Tap map to see plants native to location
Print Plant Signs
Print Plant Labels
Export To Excel
Export To Excel (Detailed)
Order by Popularity
Order by Common Name
Order by Scientific Name
Order by # of Butterflies Hosted
Show nursery cultivars
Hide nursery cultivars
Show plants not in nurseries
Hide plants not in nurseries
Grid view
Text view
Home
>
Downingia bella
Loading....
Processing the request......
Hoover's Downingia
( Downingia bella )
Downingia bella
More Photos at CalPhotos
More Info at Jepson eFlora
Calflora
Click on blue squares to see occurrence records.
<< Plant species
Zoom To My Address
Zoom To California
Estimated Plant Range (
?
)
occurrences >>
All Occurrence Records
0 Nurseries Carry This Plant
Add to My Plant List
About Hoover's Downingia (Downingia bella)
0 Nurseries Carry This Plant
Add to My Plant List
Downingia bella
, also known as Hoover's calicoflower or Hoover's Downingia, is a member of the Bellflower Family (Campanulaceae). The genus is named after A. J. Downing (1815-1852) a noted American horticulturist and landscape architect. This native annual herb is endemic to California and found in valley grassland communities. Its habitat is wetlands, generally vernal pools between 4600 and 5250 feet (1400 to 1600m). As approximately 90% of vernal pools in California have been lost, D. bella is uncommon. The range of D. bella is scattered from locations in Riverside County to areas in the Great Central Valley. Like all Downingia, the stem is decumbent to erect with leaves that are along the stem and often fall before the plant flowers. The flowers are sessile and in a spike inflorescence with individual flowers having a corolla length of 10 to 12 mm. The corolla is glabrous and has 2 distinct lips, the upper with 2 lobes and lower with 3 lobes. The upper lobes are narrowly triangular or elliptic in shape while the lower lobes are obtuse and abruptly toothed. The corolla is blue with the lower lip having a central white field which then has two yellow spots (can be joined) in its middle. At the throat D. bella has 2 raised nipples that generally have 3 alternating purple spots. The 5 fused stamens have anthers that are included in the corolla tube and are angled less than 45 degrees to filaments. The inferior ovary is pedicel-like and is 2 chambered. The fruits of D. bella are between 16 to 18 mm with tough lateral walls that are tardily dehiscent despite no noticeable translucent lines. The seeds within the fruit are longitudinally striate. Some areas in northern Sutter County have D. bella with a minute corolla horn similar to D. ornatissima. Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Downingia bella
.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Annual herb
Flower Color
Blue, Purple, White, Yellow
Landscaping Information
Natural Setting
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 8.0" - 54.5", Summer Precipitation: 0.16" - 0.84", Coldest Month: 39.3" - 53.3", Hottest Month: 62.4" - 77.5", Humidity: 1.07" - 24.29", Elevation: 7" - 5647"
Alternative Names
Common Names
: Hoover's Calicoflower
Print Plant Sign
Print Plant Label
Edit
Back
Print
Back
Print
Hoover's Downingia
Downingia bella
Sources include:
Wikipedia
. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the
California Consortia of Herbaria
, Sunset information provided by
Jepson Flora Project
. Propogation from seed information provided by the
Santa Barbara Botanical Garden
from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include
CalPhotos
,
Wikimedia Commons
, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include
Calflora
,
CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online
,
Jepson Flora Project
,
Las Pilitas
,
Theodore Payne
,
Tree of Life
,
The Xerces Society
, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from
PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University
, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.
Links:
Jepson eFlora Taxon Page
CalPhotos
Wikipedia
Calflora
Sign in to your Calscape Account
X
Once signed in, you'll be able to access any previously saved plant lists or create new ones.
Email Address
Password
Sign In