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
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
Loading....
Creamcups
Platystemon californicus
  
6 Nurseries Carry This Plant

About Creamcups (Platystemon californicus) 6 Nurseries Carry This Plant Platystemon is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the Papaveraceae (Poppy) family containing the single species Platystemon californicus, which is known by the common name Creamcups. It is native to the southwestern United States and Baja California, where it is a common spring wildflower in many types of habitat. In California it is found from north to south, along the coast, in foothills, the Coast Ranges, Transverse Range and Peninsular Range. It is populr as an ornamental plant for landscaping and revegetation of recently burned areas. This is an annual herb which is quite variable in appearance. The oppositely arranged leaves are 2 to 8 centimeters long and in shape linear, lance-shaped, or oblong. It is hairy in texture, sometimes with very long hairs. The flower cluster is a single flower on a tall peduncle up to 20 centimeters high. The flower has six petals which may be pure white or golden or white with large gold spots or gold tips. The center of the flower is filled with a tuftlike cluster of many thick, flattened stamens. The fruit is a capsule with several one-seeded sections that break apart. There is one recognized variety, var. ciliatus, which is a rare plant endemic to Santa Barbara Island.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Annual herb

Size
Size
0.7 - 1 ft tall
6 in wide

Flower Color
Flower Color
Cream, White, Yellow

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Winter, Spring

Wildlife Supported
 
Insects, including butterflies. Larval food plant for Adela oplerella.

 
Butterflies & moths hosted ( 2 likely * ) SHOW ALL
*
Hyles lineata Image
White-lined Sphinx Hyles lineataHyles lineata
*
Adela thorpella Image
Adela thorpellaAdela thorpella

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun

Moisture
Moisture
Low

Summer Irrigation
Summer Irrigation
Max 2x / month once established

Nurseries
Nurseries
Carried by 6

Cold Tolerance
Cold Tolerance
Tolerates cold to 10° F

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Fast

Soil Description
Soil Description
Prefers sandy, gravelly soil. No clay. Soil PH: 5.8 - 8.2

Common uses
Common uses
Bee Gardens

Companion Plants
Companion Plants
Use in a wildflower meadow garden with other annuals or herbaceous perennials such as Clarkia sp., California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii), with geophytes such as Wild Onion (Allium sp.), Mariposa Lily (Calochortus sp.), and Blue Dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum), and with native grasses

Propagation
Propagation?
By seed

Sunset Zones
Sunset Zones?
6, 7*, 8*, 9*, 10, 11, 12, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24*

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Open grassy places, sandy soils, recently burned areas

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 4.3" - 95.2", Summer Precipitation: 0.13" - 2.96", Coldest Month: 24.6" - 57.3", Hottest Month: 45.5" - 82.3", Humidity: 0.01" - 33.76", Elevation: -75" - 11310"

Alternative Names
Botanical Names: Platystemon californicus var. ciliatus
Common Names: California Creamcups, Cream Cups


Print Plant Sign Print Plant Label
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