Smithiastrum Prenanthoides, California Harebell

Smithiastrum prenanthoides, the only US species of this mostly European genus, has a limited distribution in northwest California and southwest Oregon, found mostly in redwood forests and other coniferous areas, from near sea level to over 6,000 feet. Plants have rigid stems and many leaves, ovate in outline, with quite large, well-separated teeth along the edges. Leaves may have short petioles but are usually stalkless.

Flowers are produced in small clusters, with up to four attached to a single leaf node; they have a greenish calyx, split at the top into five narrow, spreading lobes, and a blue corolla, also divided, right to the base, into five thin, linear lobes, strongly recurved. A blue/purple style projects well beyond the corolla, split at the top into three branches.