This plant drops its seeds as they mature along the flowering stalk, making retrieving them an especially difficult task. We improvised by hanging the plants on clotheslines in pollination bags to catch what we could! Hanging them in the sun for two weeks helped with after-ripening too.

Seeds of the rare Plagiobothrys hystriculus, native to California.

AKA the bearded popcornflower, this plant is an annual herb growing in Central Valley grasslands like the Jepson Prairie Reserve. Herbarium student staff collected these seeds for our California Plant Rescue project in 2023-2024.

Since the 1980s, botanists have surveyed the Shasta-Trinity and Klamath National Forests' diverse range of flora. 🌲

In 2021, the Monument Fire forced botanist Lusetta Sims to evacuate her specimens to our Herbarium. Now, our student employees are working to maintain these unique plant specimens.

Look out for these upcoming events at the Botanical Conservatory!

🌙 Night at the Conservatory - Vanilla: Morphology, Pollination and Cultivation
October 16, 6-7PM

🪴 Fall Plant Sale - October 25, 9AM-1PM

Head to their events page for more information: conservatory.ucdavis.edu/events