Dwarf brodiaea

Brodiaea grandiflora Smith var. minor Bentham, Pl. Hartw., 340. 1857; B. minor var. nana (Hoover) Hoover; B. nana Hoover; Hookera minor (Bentham) Britten ex Greene

Scape 2–10 cm, slender. Flowers 14–24 mm; perianth pale bluish to lilac, rotate, tube urceolate, strongly constricted above ovary, 6–10 mm, tough, opaque, not splitting in fruit, lobes widely spreading, 11–17 mm, inner 5–7 mm wide; filaments 0.5–4 mm, base not triangular, with narrow abaxial wings, appendages absent; anthers linear, 1–5 mm, apex hooked; staminodia erect, held close to stamens, white, broad, 5–8 mm, margins 1/2 involute at mid-length, apex notched; ovary 3–4 mm; style 5–6 mm; pedicel 1–3 cm. 2n = 12.

Flowering spring (Apr--early May). Grasslands, gravelly clay soils; 0--500 m; Calif.

Brodiaea minor grows along the low foothills of the Sierra Nevada range. It is very similar to B. purdyi, which may be only a subspecies of it.