Vancouveria chrysantha

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.

Vancouveria chrysantha
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Berberidaceae
Genus:	Vancouveria
Species:	V. chrysantha
Binomial name
Vancouveria chrysantha Greene

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 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). It grows in dry mountain habitat in chaparral and forests, often on serpentine soils.

External links

• Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of Vancouveria chrysantha (Siskiyou inside-out flower)
• U.C. CalPhotos gallery: Vancouveria chrysantha