Parish's California Tea

Hoita rigida (Parish) Rydberg
Psoralea rigida Parish, Bull. Torrey Club 19: 91. 1892.
A perennial; stem erect, 3-6 dm. high, strigose-puberulent and sparingly glandular, angled and striate, branched above; leaves pinnately 3-foliolate; stipules lanceolate or subulate, 1 cm. long or less; petioles 2-4 cm. long; leaflets short-petioluled, ovate, lanceolate and acute, or those of the lower leaves ovate or oval and obtuse, rounded or retuse, glandular-punctate, glabrous above, sparingly pubescent beneath, 3-10 cm. long, 1-5 cm. broad, reticulate, firm; peduncles axillary, 3-7 cm. long; racemes short and dense, 2-3 cm. long; bracts lanceolate, acuminate, 4-5 mm. long, white-pubescent; calyx short-pubescent, with mixed white and black hairs, conspicuously glandular; tube campanulate, 4-5 mm. long; lobes lanceolate, the upper 3-4 mm. long, the lowest one 4-5 mm. long; corolla whitish or ochroleucous with purple-tipped keel; banner oblanceolate in outline, with indistinct rounded basal lobes, tapering into a long broad claw; blades of the wings obliquely lunate, with an ovate basal lobe, those of the keel broader, two thirds as long, with a rounded basal lobe; pod 8-10 mm. long, ovoid, minutely punctate! firm, somewhat roughened, strigose with mixed white and black hairs.
Type locality: Oak Grove, San Diego County, California Distribution: Southern California.

Perennial, Herbs, Stems woody below, or from woody crown or caudex, Taproot present, Nodules present, Stems erect or ascending, Stems less than 1 m tall, Plants gland-d otted or with gland-tipped hairs, Stems solid, Stems or young twigs glabrous or sparsely glabrate, Leaves alternate, Leaves petiolate, Stipules conspicuous, Stipules green, triangulate to lanceolate or foliaceous, Stipules persistent, Stipules deciduous, Stipules free, Leaves compound, Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, Leaves odd pinnate, Leaf or leaflet margins entire, Leaflets opposite, Leaflets 1, Leaflets 3, Leaves glandular punctate or gland-dotted, Leaves glabrous or nearly so, Leaves hairy on one or both surfaces, Leaves reduced to phyllodia, Inflorescences racemes, Inflorescence axillary, Bracts very small, absent or caducous, Flowers zygomorphic, Calyx 5-lobed, Calyx gibbous, inflated, or spurred, Calyx glabrous, Petals separate, Corolla papilionaceous, Petals ochroleucous, cream colored, Banner petal ovoid or obovate, Wing petals narrow, oblanceolate to oblong, Wing tips obtuse or rounded, Keel tips obtuse or rounded, not beaked, Stamens 9-10, Stamens monadelphous, uni ted below, Filaments glabrous, Style terete, Fruit a legume, Fruit unilocular, Fruit indehiscent, Fruit oblong or ellipsoidal, Fruit enclosed in calyx, Fruit beaked, Fruit hairy, Fruit gland-dotted or with gland-tipped hairs, Fruit 1-seeded, Seeds reniform, Seed surface smooth, Seeds olive, brown, or black.

Rupertia rigida is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common name Parish's California tea, or Parish's rupertia.

It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it is an uncommon member of the local mountain flora, growing in chaparral, woodland, and forest habitat types.