''Collinsia tinctoria'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family or veronica family, is a large, diverse family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as Antirrhinum, snapdragon and Digitalis, foxglove. It is unrelated ...

known by the common names sticky Chinese houses and tincture plant. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where it grows in the woodlands and forests of the mountain ranges of the central and northern regions of the state.

Description

''Collinsia tinctoria'' 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 a sturdy erect stem up to about 60 centimeters tall. The oppositely arranged leaves are triangular lance-shaped, sometimes toothed, and hairy on the undersides. The

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 a series of widely spaced dense whorls of flowers, each whorl a crowded ring of flowers held on erect

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the 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 branch ...

. The flower has five elongated

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s with rounded tips, the corolla angling sharply down from the mouth of the calyx. The corolla may be any of several colors from white to yellow to deep lavender and may be mottled or speckled and tinted in the throat. The inflorescence and some flower parts are glandular and hairy.

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Collinsia tinctoria''USDA Plants Profiletinctoria'' — U.C. Photo gallery
tinctoria Endemic flora of California Flora of the Cascade Range Flora of the Klamath Mountains Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Plantaginaceae-stub