Species
+

Anemopsis californica (Nutt.) Hook. & Arn.

Apache-beads, ES), Lizard Tail, Yerba Mansa

Climate known 68 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

The monotypic genus Anemopsis has only one species, Anemopsis californica, with the common names yerba mansa or lizard tail.

Text from Wikipedia, “Anemopsis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Anemopsis

The monotypic genus Anemopsis has only one species, Anemopsis californica, with the common names yerba mansa or lizard tail.

Text from Wikipedia, “Anemopsis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Saururaceae
Described by
(Nutt.) Hook. & Arn.
Native to
Colorado, Oregon, Kansas +11
Wild records
1448 in range· 353 open

At a glance

Warmest month
32°C
Jul, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
286mm/yr
5 wet months · peak Feb 55 mm (CHELSA)
Light
19–53DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to March in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 286 mm a year, wettest February at 55 mm, driest June at 3 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 53 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -1.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Anemia californica Nutt.; Anemopsis berlanderi C.DC.; Anemopsis bolanderi C.DC.; Anemopsis californica var. californica; Anemopsis californica var. subglabra Kelso and 7 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, November to March in the northern hemisphere (November to March at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (214 mm of 286 mm) falls in November to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 11.7 °C against a yearly mean of 16.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 286 mm a year, wettest February at 55 mm, driest June at 3 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

286 mm a year at the habitat, 214 mm of it November to March. Wettest month February at 55 mm, driest June at 3 mm; 1 month under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 160 mm to 500 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 53 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 53 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 55).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -1.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -1.4 °C, the absolute minimum -9.2 °C, about 9 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.0 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 4.7 °C in January (across the envelope cells -2.0 °C to 9.8 °C), warmest day 31.6 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 48 to 53% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 16 °C in Dec to 32 °C in Jul; mean night from 5 °C in Jan to 18 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 286 mm of rain a year, most in Feb. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 670 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -9.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 41.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°50°frost41.0° 99th-percentile day (undated)-9.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 19–53RH 48–53 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 670 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C16 / 8–1917 / 10–2118 / 14–2421 / 18–2825 / 20–3229 / 22–3632 / 25–3831 / 25–3729 / 25–3424 / 21–2920 / 14–2316 / 9–19
Night °C5 / -2–106 / -1–108 / 2–1110 / 5–1313 / 9–1815 / 13–2218 / 16–2518 / 15–2517 / 13–2213 / 8–168 / 3–135 / -2–10
Rain mm48 / 15–9455 / 12–10244 / 10–7220 / 6–347 / 3–173 / 1–187 / 1–549 / 1–638 / 5–4418 / 9–3026 / 10–4741 / 16–74
DLI21 / 19–2527 / 25–3136 / 34–4045 / 42–4851 / 48–5353 / 51–5551 / 46–5247 / 42–4840 / 38–4131 / 29–3423 / 21–2719 / 17–22
RH %52 / 48–6053 / 47–6052 / 44–6251 / 40–6150 / 37–6348 / 35–6449 / 38–6451 / 40–6349 / 40–6350 / 42–6150 / 44–5952 / 47–59

Each figure is the median across the 670 grid cells holding the 1381 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1234:1490 (28.275, -105.475). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 41.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 670 distinct grid cells holding the 1381 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1234:1490 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 28.50_-105.625, lapse-corrected -218 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1146 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeColorado, Oregon, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest
Kew's description“hydroperennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker33.133, -117.182 · in the densest population, 650 records (45% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1448 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 353 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 15 km away. 67 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1448 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Anemopsis californicaAnemopsis californicaAnemopsis californicaAnemopsis californicaAnemopsis californicaAnemopsis californicaAnemopsis californicaAnemopsis californica

Photographs: (c) Adam J. Searcy, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); no rights reserved · CC0 (6).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Anemopsis californica, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Some Medicinal Plants against Human Pathogenic Bacteria
Sarita Manandhar, Shisir Luitel, Raj Kumar Dahal (2019) · Journal of Tropical Medicine
Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Plant Flavors and Fragrances
Andrea Capuzzo, Massimo E. Maffei, Andrea Occhipinti (2013) · Molecules
Endophytic Fungi: An Effective Alternative Source of Plant-Derived Bioactive Compounds for Pharmacological Studies
Juan Wen, Samuel Kumi Okyere, Shu Wang, Jianchen Wang (2022) · Journal of Fungi
Lignans of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.): A Comprehensive Review
Mebeaselassie Andargie, María Viñas, Anna Rathgeb, Evelyn Möller (2021) · Molecules
Silicon and Salinity: Crosstalk in Crop-Mediated Stress Tolerance Mechanisms
Adil Khan, Adil Khan, Abdul Latif Khan, Abdul Latif Khan (2019) · Frontiers in Plant Science
Antimicrobial Activity of Tulsi (Ocimum tenuiflorum) Essential Oil and Their Major Constituents against Three Species of Bacteria
Hanaa A. Yamani, Edwin Pang, Nitin Mantri, Margaret Deighton (2016) · Frontiers in Microbiology
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and production of secondary metabolites in medicinal plants
Yanyan Zhao, Annalisa Cartabia, Ismahen Lalaymia, Stéphane Declerck (2022) · Mycorrhiza
Growth Responses and Root Characteristics of Lettuce Grown in Aeroponics, Hydroponics, and Substrate Culture
Qiansheng Li, Xiaoqiang Li, Bin Tang, Mengmeng Gu (2018) · Horticulturae

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 64 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.