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
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....
Yerba Mansa
Anemopsis californica
  
53 Nurseries Carry This Plant

About Yerba Mansa (Anemopsis californica) 53 Nurseries Carry This Plant Yerba mansa or lizard tail, is a perennial flowering plant within the family Saururaceae. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Anemopsis. It is native to southwestern North America. In early spring numerous tiny white flowers are borne on a cone which is surrounded by 4-9 large white spoon-shaped bracts that look like petals. As it matures, the visible part of the plant develops red stains, eventually turning bright red in the fall. Yerba mansa means "calming herb" in Spanish (yerba = "herb"; mansa = "calm or tranquil").

Yerba Mansa requires moist soil, so best to plant in streambeds, seeps or other damp areas. It goes dormant and basically disappears from late summer to early winter, and re-sprouts from the roots in late winter. It produces beautiful white flowers in the early spring that remain on the plant until it starts to go dormant in late summer. It will often spread out like a carpet throughout the damper soil, and choke out any other plants in the area, and in particular while it's blooming, it's quite beautiful.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Perennial herb

Size
Size
0.33 - 1 ft tall
2 ft wide

Form
Form
Upright, Spreading

Growth Rate
Growth Rate
Fast, Moderate

Dormancy
Dormancy
Winter Semi-Deciduous

Fragrance
Fragrance
Fragrant - Pleasant

Flower Color
Flower Color
White, Cream, Red

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Spring, Winter

Wildlife Supported
Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Part Shade, Full Sun

Moisture
Moisture
Moderate - High

Summer Irrigation
Summer Irrigation
Keep moist

Nurseries
Nurseries
Carried by 53

Ease of Care
Ease of Care
Very Easy

Cold Tolerance
Cold Tolerance
Tolerates cold to 0 - 5° F

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Medium, Slow, Standing

Soil Description
Soil Description
Tolerant of almost any soil as long as it remains constantly moist. Soil PH: 5.0 - 9.0

Common uses
Common uses
Bogs and Ponds, Groundcovers, Deer Resistant

Companion Plants
Companion Plants
Yellow Monkeyflower, Scarlet Monkeyflower, Stream Orchid, various Rushes, various sedges, Iris spp, Equisetum spp.

Maintenance
Maintenance
May be attacked by leaf eating insects, but usually not fatal. Runners may be cut off at any time to control its tendency to spread. Larger patches may be mowed.

Propagation
Propagation?
Cut off runners may be transplanted to other damp locations and will root quickly.  For propagating by seed: No treatment.

Sunset Zones
Sunset Zones?
3, 6, 7*, 8*, 9*, 10*, 11, 12, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17*, 18*, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24*

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Saline or alkaline soil, wet or moist places, seeps, springs, muddy creek banks, pond margins, bogs

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 1.9" - 31.7", Summer Precipitation: 0.15" - 2.95", Coldest Month: 31.1" - 61.0", Hottest Month: 57.2" - 90.4", Humidity: 0.86" - 48.25", Elevation: -271" - 7444"

Alternative Names
Common Names: Yerba-mansa


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