Vancouveria chrysantha is a species of flowering plant in the barberry family known by the common names golden inside-out flower and Siskiyou inside-out flower.
Description
Vancouveria chrysantha is a rhizomatous perennial herb with a short, mostly underground stem. It produces a patch of basal leaves which are each made up of round, shallowly lobed leaflets borne on long, reddish petioles.
The inflorescence appears in the spring to early summer. It is a raceme of flowers on a long, erect peduncle with hairy, glandular branches. Each drooping flower has six inner sepals which look like petals. They are bright yellow, up to a centimeter long, and reflexed back, or upwards, away from the flower center. Lying against the sepals are the smaller true petals, which are also bright yellow, curled, and hood-like. There are six stamens and a large glandular ovary.
Distribution
The plant is native to northwestern California and southwestern Oregon.
It occurs in the Klamath Mountains below . It grows in dry mountain habitat in chaparral and forests, often on serpentine soils.
References
External links
Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of Vancouveria chrysantha (Siskiyou inside-out flower) U.C. CalPhotos gallery: Vancouveria chrysantha