''Collinsia concolor'' is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name Chinese houses. It is native to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

and

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

. It grows in the woodlands and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

of the coastal mountain ranges, such as the

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Pacific Coast Range ...

. Collinsia concolor is a host species for the

Edith's checkerspot Edith's checkerspot (''Euphydryas editha'') is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is a resident species of western North America and among the subspecies, entomologists have long been intrigued by their many phenotypic variation ...

butterfly.

Description

''Collinsia concolor'' is an

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook **Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), a ...

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

producing an erect stem up to about 45 centimeters tall. The leaves are oppositely arranged, each widely linear in shape, flat, and sometimes slightly toothed. The hairy gland-covered

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is an interrupted series of dense whorls of flowers. Each flower is 1 to 1.5 centimeters long, with a hairy base and a corolla divided into two upper lobes and three lower. The flower is blue to purple with a neatly purple-dotted white area on the upper lobes. The middle of the three lower lobes has a hairy tip.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Collinsia concolor''USDA Plants Profile''Collinsia concolor'' — U.C. Photo gallery
concolor Flora of Baja California Flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants described in 1895 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Plantaginaceae-stub