About Scrophularia atrata Pennell
Scrophularia atrata is an uncommon flowering plant species in the figwort family, with the common names black-flowered figwort and darkflowered figwort. This species is endemic to California, and is only known from a section of the Central Coast Ranges located in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. It grows in calcareous and diatomaceous soils of coastal canyons at elevations no higher than 500 meters. 128 occurrences of this species have been observed on Calflora.org alone. Per NatureServe data, 38 out of 62 total recorded occurrences are historic. This plant is a perennial herb that grows an erect, four-sided stem that can reach up to one meter tall, or slightly taller. Its texture ranges from somewhat hairy to densely woolly. Its leaves have toothed oval blades up to 10 centimeters long, and are attached to the stem by long petioles. The inflorescence is a wide-open panicle, with several hairy, glandular branches that bear flowers. Each flower has an urn-shaped corolla with a rounded body and an open mouth at the top, edged with hoodlike lobes. The corolla is a deep, dark red color that can be nearly black. The fruit is a capsule just under one centimeter long that contains many seeds.
