A cluster of Common Fiddleneck (Amsinckia intermedia) plants in a garden in Woodland, interspersed with Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii). Photo by queerbychoice.Fiddlenecks (Amsinckia spp.) are herbaceous annual plants in the Borage family, typically covered in bristly hairs, with yellow-orange flowers arranged in a row on a flower stem that curls over at the top like the neck of a fiddle. The species can be quite difficult to distinguish from one another, particularly because they commonly hybridize with one another in the wild. Most species of fiddleneck can grow as much as four feet tall.
Four species of fiddleneck are native to Davis, and four others are native to other parts of Yolo County. They all typically grow in dry areas, not in wetlands.
Douglas' Fiddleneck (Amsinckia douglasiana) is a rare plant. Its flowers are over one centimeter wide and often have fewer than five lobes. This species is heterostylous. It is found in the eastern two thirds of Davis, the eastern half of Woodland, the northeastern quarter of West Sacramento, and in a narrow band from Davis to Fremont Weir State Wildlife Area.
Common Fiddleneck (Amsinckia intermedia) is found in all of Davis, Woodland, and West Sacramento, and in most of Yolo County except for narrow bands of the Sacramento Valley just east of the Capay Hills and just east of the Yolo County foothills.
Closeup view of a small Common Fiddleneck (Amsinckia intermedia) plant in a garden in Woodland. Photo by queerbychoice.
Tarweed Fiddleneck (Amsinckia lycopsoides) stays a little shorter than the other local fiddleneck species, remaining under three feet tall. Its flowers tend to be more yellow and less orange than the flowers of most other fiddleneck species. Its flowers are about one centimeter long and nearly the same in width, with a five-lobed corolla closed at the mouth by the bulges in the lobes. It is found in all of Davis, Woodland, and West Sacramento, and in most of Yolo County except for narrow bands of the Sacramento Valley just east of the Capay Hills and just east of the Yolo County foothills.
Menzies Fiddleneck (Amsinckia menziesii) is found in all of Davis, Woodland, and West Sacramento, and in most of Yolo County except for narrow bands of the Sacramento Valley just east of the Capay Hills and just east of the Yolo County foothills.
Bent-Flowered Fiddleneck (Amsinckia lunaris) is a rare plant that can be identified partly by a distinctive bend in the flower tube. The flowers are about a centimeter long but narrower than that in width at the face. In Yolo County, it is found in the foothills west of Esparto and the foothills from there northward, as well as in the Capay Hills.
Rigid Fiddleneck (Amsinckia retrorsa) grows in the Yolo County foothills west of Rumsey and Guinda.
Devil's Lettuce (Amsinckia tessellata) has flowers up to one centimeter wide at the corolla, which often has fewer than five lobes. In Yolo County, it grows mainly in and around Rumsey, including in the hills on both sides of Rumsey. It also grows in a small area of the Yolo County foothills west of Esparto.
Eastwood's Fiddleneck (Amsinckia eastwoodiae) has flowers up to two centimeters long and 1.5 centimeters wide at the face. In Yolo County, it is found only in a tiny area of the foothills north of Rumsey.
