The colors below indicate the kind of documentation available for this species
in the California counties where it occurs.
Chinese Houses Collinsia heterophylla (Scrophulariaceae)
This species was sent to England by David Douglas in 1833. Douglas was a British plant collector who scoured the west coast and Hawaii from 1825 to 1834 searching for new species. In Europe, gardening was so popular during the 19th century that explorers risked their lives to bring that never-before-seen plant to the garden trade. Chinese Houses is a common annual with showy flowers. The corolla consists of a short tube with two somewhat reflexed white to lavender upper lobes and three purple lower lobes. The upper pair of stamen filaments have an erect spur that projects upward into the nectar pouch.
DISTRIBUTION: Common in shady places throughout the Calif. Floristic Province; < 1000 m.
