About Hesperolinon congestum (A.Gray) Small
This wildflower has stems that grow between 5 and 15 centimeters long, with alternately arranged linear leaves. The leaves are typically not planar and do not clasp the stem, and it has well-developed stipule glands that produce red exudate. Its inflorescences are dense, with characteristically open cymes, and 0.5 to 8.0 millimeter somewhat thread-like, ascending pedicels. Each flower has five hairy sepals 3 to 4 millimeters in size, with minutely glandular margins. It has five widely spreading petals that measure between 3 and 8 millimeters across. These pink to rose-colored petals each bear three minute scales at their inner base. There are five stamens, measuring between 5.5 and 7.0 millimeters in length, with pink to deep purple anthers. The ovary has six chambers, and the plant produces three whitish styles. Its fruits have a smooth outer surface. The haploid chromosome number for this species is n=18. Botanical pioneers W.L. Jepson, Alice Eastwood, and Katharine Brandegee collected and recognized this species in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; most of these early sightings occurred in Tiburon and San Francisco. Records of this species from San Mateo County, principally at Edgewood Park in Redwood City and in San Mateo, began to appear in the mid-1900s.
