Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Tonella tenella
lesser baby-innocence, small-flowered tonella
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring chiefly in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington; disjunct in southwestern British Columbia and the northern Olympic Peninsula, otherwise southern Washington to central California.

Habitat: Fairly moist in open to partly shaded places at low elevations.

Flowers: March-May

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Description:
General:

Glabrous annual, the stem slender and weak, often branched, 0.5-2.5 dm. tall.

Leaves:

Leaves opposite, small, the blade under 2 cm. long; lowermost leaves petiolate, with broad, toothed blade; next higher leaves trifoliate, with broad segments; middle and upper leaves with progressively shorter petioles and narrower segments, the uppermost reduced and entire.

Flowers:

Flowers several, 1 or more in the axils of reduced leaves, on elongate, slender, stipitate-glandular pedicels; calyx with 5 lobes longer than the tube; corolla blue, inconspicuous, 2-4 mm. wide, with a short tube with 5 lobes, slightly bilabiate; stamens 4.

Fruits:

Capsule opening along 4 sutures.

Accepted Name:
Tonella tenella (Benth. ex A. DC.) A. Heller
Publication: Muhlenbergia; a journal of botany 1(1): 5. 1900.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
(none provided)
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Tonella tenella in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.

WA Flora Checklist: Tonella tenella checklist entry.

OregonFlora: Tonella tenella information.

E-Flora BC: Tonella tenella atlas page.

CalPhotos: Tonella tenella photos.

USDA Plants: Tonella tenella information.

33 photographs:
Group by