Emmenanthe is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hydrophyllaceae (order Boraginales), comprising two species native to western North America. The genus's principal representative, and the only species in this database, is Emmenanthe penduliflora, widely known by the common name "whispering bells."
Emmenanthe penduliflora is a herbaceous wildflower with fleshy foliage that exudes a sticky sap with a faint medicinal odor. It grows from a basal rosette of sharply lobed leaves and produces a terminal cluster of bell-shaped flowers, each with five sepals and five yellow-to-pinkish petals borne on slender pedicels less than an inch long. As the flowers dry, they become light and papery, containing a small fruit around a centimeter wide; when a breeze passes through a stand of the dried, hanging flowers, they rustle audibly, giving rise to the plant's common name.
The species is closely tied to fire ecology: it is most abundant in dry, recently burned areas, and germination of its seeds appears to be cued by the presence of burned plant material. It is a characteristic member of the chaparral community, a shrubland ecosystem of California and northern Baja California that is naturally prone to wildfire. Its range extends from California through the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico — common in the northwestern part of the state of Baja California and into the Central Desert, with additional populations on the Vizcaino Peninsula in Baja California Sur — and reaches offshore to Guadalupe Island in the Pacific.
The second species placed in the genus, Emmenanthe rosea, is likewise native to western North America but is not represented in this database.
Distribution
Native to western North America. Its main species, Emmenanthe penduliflora, ranges through California and both states of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula — common in northwestern Baja California and into the Central Desert, with populations on the Vizcaino Peninsula in Baja California Sur — and also occurs on Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Ecology
Emmenanthe penduliflora is a fire-follower most common in dry, recently burned areas; its seed germination may be triggered by the presence of burned plant material. It is a characteristic member of the fire-prone chaparral ecosystem.
