Index / Search / Eriodictyon californicum

§1 Plant

Eriodictyon californicum (Hook. & Arn.) Torr.

vernacular California yerba santa — species · Hydrophyllaceae


USDA
ERCA6
GBIF
7629056
Rank
species
California yerba santa (Eriodictyon californicum)
Platephotograph · Eric KoberleCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Shrub
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Hydrophyllaceae R. Br.
Genus
Eriodictyon
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 47 counties across 2 states/territories
Legend Native · 47 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
High
Moisture use
Low
Fire
High
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
Low
Hedging
High
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-3 °F minimum
Frost-free days
250 min.
Precipitation
9–24 in/yr
pH range
7–8
Root depth
6 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Colonizing
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
8 ft
Height @ 20 y
6 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Dark Green
Porosity (summer)
Porous
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Purple
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Spring
Seed abundance
Medium
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Moderate
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
40,000
Propagation
seed, cuttings, bare root, container
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Contracting Only
Nursery stock
Yes
Browse palatability
Low
Graze palatability
Low
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 47 counties across 2 states/territories.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/ERCA6 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/7629056 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z