Recently I created a slideshow of various flower and cacti pictures that I captured on some of my hikes over the past couple of years and can view it on YouTube. This slideshow contains 39 slides and only takes 5 minutes and 21 seconds to view on my YouTube site. You can check it out below:
Showing posts with label Plants-Flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Plants-Flowers. Show all posts
Wednesday
Thursday
Desert Baccharis (Baccharis sarothroides)
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This page last updated on 03/30/2018
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| (Fig. 01) |
Picture Notes: The pictures in (Figs. 01 & 02) were taken along a hike in the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. For more on this hike and location go to ... Tufa Beds Trails (TUSK) - Trip Notes for 03/28/2018.
Description: Desert Baccharis (Baccharis sarothroides), a.k.a. desert broom, waterweed, baccharis, romerillo (rosemary), escoba amarga (bitter broom) and hierba del pasmo, is a water-indicating plant commonly found in seasonal stream-beds. Its shrub is generally up to 6 feet tall and wide. It produces many erect, branching stems approaching 6 feet in maximum height. The leaves are mostly oval shape and up to about 1.2 inches long. The leaves generally fall by the time the plant blooms. The shrub is dioecious, with male and female plants producing flower heads of different types. Numerous small heads of whitish-green flowers arranged in an open, branched panicle. Each small head is furthermore divided into a dozen or more very small florets. Blooming late summer. The head is enclosed in a layer of phyllaries which are glandular and sticky. The fruit is a ribbed achene with a pappus a few millimeters long. This bright-green, rounded shrub is nearly leafless, especially when in flower. Its whitish flowers bloom from spring to autumn and are not showy, yet they attract a multitude of insect pollinators from bees and bee-flies to beetles and true bugs. The plant is native to the Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico, where it grows in wet areas in dry desert and woodland habitat, such as washes and stream-beds. It is found in the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Deserts in the States of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Sonora, and Baja California.
Desert Alyssum (Lepedium fremontii)
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This page last updated on 03/30/2018
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| (Fig. 01) |
Picture Notes: The pictures in (Figs. 01 & 02) were taken along a hike in the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. For more on this hike and location go to ... Tufa Beds Trails (TUSK) - Trip Notes for 03/28/2018.
Description: Desert Alyssum (Lepedium fremontii), a.k.a. Fremont's peppergrass, desert peppergrass, and desert pepperweed, is a one to two foot perennial that likes the conditions native to the Mojave Desert. It needs perfect drainage and full sun. It has great masses of small, four-parted white flowers. The individual white-petaled, yellow-centered flowers of lepidium fremontii are tiny, about 1/4 inch in diameter, but they form dense, spherical or elongated clusters, on a shrub-like plant which is unremarkable for much of the year when not in bloom but quite distinctive in spring and early summer. Flowers are formed of four obovate, yellowish-green sepals and four larger, white, clawed, spatula-shaped petals, non-overlapping. All plant parts are hairless. Stems and leaves are greyish-green in color; leaves grow all along the stem, though not at the base. Their range extends from the Mojave Desert northwards across most of Nevada, up to 6,500 feet elevation. Plants branch profusely, generally staying quite close to the ground but reaching heights of 3 feet in favorable locations. They bloom from March to June.
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| (Fig. 02) |
Las Vegas buckwheat (Eriogonum corymbosum var. nilesii)
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This page last updated on 03/29/2018
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| (Fig. 01) |
Description: The Las Vegas buckwheat (Eriogonum corymbosum var. nilesii) is an open to somewhat spreading woody perennial shrub up to 4 feet (ft) high with a mounding shape 5-feet across and has numerous clusters of yellow to pale yellow flowers on its stalks. The subspecies is distinguished from closely related taxa by leaves that are densely hairy on one or both surfaces, at least twice as long as wide, with dense hairs spread along the stem. It flowers August to November. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completed a comprehensive status review, known as a 12-month
finding on 23 September, 2014, and found that the best scientific and commercial data available indicates that listing the Las Vegas Buckwheat as threatened or endangered is not warranted.
Distribution and Habitat: Because the taxonomy of the Las Vegas buckwheat was only recently resolved in 2006, there is very little information regarding the historic range and distribution of the variety. Las Vegas buckwheat is historically known from three locations in Clark County: Las Vegas Valley, Gold Butte, and Muddy Mountains. In the Las Vegas Valley, a major portion of its remaining habitat is located in the upper Las Vegas Wash. A large portion of this area is now protected by the recently established Tule Springs Fossil National Monument.
Astragalus
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This page last updated on 03/30/2018
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| (Fig. 01) |
Picture Notes: The two pictures in (Figs. 01 & 02) were taken along a hike in the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. Our hike guide provided the name of this plant. For more on this hike and location go to ... Tufa Beds Trails (TUSK) - Trip Notes for 03/28/2018.
Description: In a search of the Internet, I was only able to find very limited information about this plant. Astragalus is a large genus of about 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae and the subfamily Faboideae. It is the largest genus of plants in terms of described species. The genus is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Common names include milkvetch (most species), locoweed (in North America, some species), goat's-thorn and huáng qí in Chinese. It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. Some pale-flowered vetches are similar in appearance, but vetches are more vine-like. It is a perennial plant and it is not listed as being threatened.
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| (Fig. 02) |
Halogeton (Halogeton glomeratus)
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This page last updated on 03/30/2018
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| (Fig. 01) |
Picture Notes: The picture in (Fig. 01) was taken along a hike in the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. Because it is still somewhat winter, they are all brown and pretty much dried out. Come spring and summer they will turn green and can actually begin to flower like shown in (Figs. 02 & 03). For more on this hike and location go to ... Tufa Beds Trails (TUSK) - Trip Notes for 03/28/2018.
Description: Halogeton (Halogeton glomeratus) is a species of flowering plant in the amaranth family known by the common names saltlover, Aral barilla, and halogeton. It is native to Russia and China, but the plant is probably better known in the western United States, where it is an introduced species and a notorious noxious weed. This annual herb is a hardy halophyte, thriving in soils far too saline to support many other plants. It also grows in alkali soils such as those on alkali flats and disturbed, barren habitat. It can be found in sagebrush and shadscale habitat, and can grow well in areas with cold winters.
This plant produces a usually erect stem with several curving branches up to about 10 inches tall. It has a taproot reaching up to half a meter deep in the soil and has many lateral roots. The branches are lined with narrow, fleshy, blue-green leaves each up to about 2 centimeters long tipped with stiff bristles. The inflorescences are located all along the stem branches next to the leaves. Each inflorescence is a small cluster of tiny bisexual and female-only flowers accompanied by waxy bracts. The winged, membranous flowers surround the developing fruit, which is all that remains on the plant when it is ripe, the leaves and flower parts having fallen away. The fruit is a pale cylindrical utricle. The extremely invasive plant produces large amounts of seeds, which are dispersed by many vehicles, including human activity (being walked on), animals (including ants), water flow, wind, and by being carried on the dry plant when it breaks off at ground level and rolls away as a tumbleweed. The seeds have the ability to germinate within one hour after being exposed to water. It is destructive to the land of the American west because its excretion of mineral salts makes it harder for other plants to grow where it occurs. The growth of the plant is controlled by introducing certain nonnative plants, such as immigrant kochia (Kochia prostrata) and crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum), which compete successfully with halogeton. Land that is denuded due to contruction processes is susceptible to halogeton invasion and very difficult to eradicate. It flowers between July and September (Fig. 03.
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| (Fig. 02) |
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| (Fig. 03) |
Spreading Phlox (Phlox diffusa)
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| (Fig. 01) |
Description: Spreading Phlox (Phlox diffusa) is a species of phlox that is native to western North America from British Columbia to the southwestern United States to the Dakotas, where it grows in many types of habitat, including rocky, high elevation mountain slopes. It is a very compact mat-forming perennial herb growing in cushions or patches of short, decumbent stems. The linear, lance-shaped, or needle-like leaves are no more than 1.5 centimeters long and are oppositely arranged in bundles on the short stems. The corolla has five lobes, which may overlap to form a near circular flower, or remain mostly separate. At the center are several stamens bearing bright yellow anthers. Flower color ranges between white and pink, and four subspecies are recognized, reflecting the large variation in habitat and elevation. This perennial plant blossoms early May through Mid August and then goes dormant in November until next spring.
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| (Fig. 02) |
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| (Fig. 03) |
Tuesday
Category Description
Plants, Flowers & Fungi: Due to the number of pictures of plants and flowers I have captured on my various hiking trips over time, I had let this category get completely away from me. Because its index was not inadequate, I redesigned the whole category so that things would be easier to locate. The new index Plants, Flowers & Fungi Index will now allow you to looking up plants and flowers by both title and pictures. I also created a new sub-category titled, Plants & Flowers Requiring Identification, with flower pictures sorted by color, so visitors to the site can participate in the process of helping me to identify some of my plant & flower pictures. If you ...
Monday
Plants-Flowers - Index
This page last updated on 03/31/2018
| Page Notes: In addition to the brief synopsis provided here for each plant, clicking on its title will take you to a page with additional pictures and info. Plants are arranged alphabetically by their common name. Also, remember that you can view any of these images full size by clicking on the image. Clicking on any image to view full-screen, then use your browsers back button to return to this page. |
 Alkali Mariposa Lily (Calochortus striatus) is a perennial forb with grass-like leaves that grows from an underground bulb. It can grow in height from 4-20 inches. An erect stem that carry 1 to 8 upright bell-shaped, flowers. Sepals are 0.4-0.8 inches with 0.8-1.2 inch petals that are a lavender to white, sometimes rich pink, with thin purple veins. The middle of the petal has long, white, wiry hairs across its width. Its range is the western Mojave Desert in wetland-riparian and alkaline meadows. For more detailed info, click on the title above. |
 American White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata), a.k.a. Fragrant white water lily, Fragrant water lily, White water lily, Sweet-scented white water lily, Sweet-scented water lily, is from the Nymphaeaceae (Water-Lily Family). It is a floating aquatic plant with large, fragrant, white or pink flowers and flat, round, floating leaves. The leaves have long stems and are bright green above and reddish or purplish underneath. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Angel's Trumpets (Brugmansia suaveolens, a.k.a. Angel's Tears, Maikoa, and White Angel's Trumpet, is a shrub with voluminous tubular flowers. It is most commonly know as Angel's Trumpet due to the large, very dramatic, pendulous trumpet-shaped flowers. This semi-woody shrub or small tree can grow 15 feet tall, usually with a many-branched single trunk. The leaves are generally oval in shape, up to 10 inches long and 6 inches wide, and even larger when grown in the shade. The overall plant has a coarse texture but the flowers are remarkably beautiful. They are sweetly fragrant, about 12 inches long and shaped like trumpets. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa) is an erect evergreen shrub that is a member of the Rose Family (Rosaceae). It has light gray or whitish peeling bark on its many thin branches that usually do not exceed six feet in height. Its round, white flowers consist of five rounded white petals with yellow centers containing many thread-like stamens and pistils, are rose-like when new. The ovary of the flower remains after the white petals fall away, leaving many dark pinkish clusters of curling, feathery styles after flowering. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Baja Fairy Duster (Calliandra californica), endemic to Baja California, a shrub that can obtain a height of 5 feet with a width of more than 4 feet. The long red (sometimes pink) stamens of its flowers resemble the tufted head of a dusting brush. These "puff-like" flowers bloom almost all year long with a peak time occurring in the late spring. Medium green, twice divided leaves are one inch long and give this flowing shrub a somewhat tropical appearance. It can be found on gravelly flats, hillsides and desert washes. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Beard-tongue Penstemon (Penstemon Palmeri), a.k.a. Palmer's Penstemon named after the botanist Edward Palmer. It is a drought-tolerant perennial penstemon noted for its showy, rounded flowers, and is mostly native to washes and bajadas between 3,600 to 7,500 feet in the eastern Mojave Deserts. This showy, rounded flower usually has large pink to violet to blue-purple petals, and may reach a maximum height of over 6 feet. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Bristly Hollyhock (Alcea setosa), a.k.a. Common Hollyhock, is a genus of about 60 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae. They are biennial or short-lived perennial plants, prominent in its height growing to 11 feet tall, with broad, rounded, palmately lobed leaves and numerous flowers (pink or yellow in the wild species) on an erect, single central stem, covered by stellate hairs. As spring nears, impressively colored and large flowers are arranged along its tall inflorescence stalk making them quite visible from a good distance. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
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 Las Vegas Bearpoppy (Arctomecon californica) , a.k.a. the Las Vegas Bearpoppy, is a perennial forb that only grows in gypsum-rich soils near Lake Mead, which is in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone. They also occur in the Gold Butte region and along the south side of Lake Mead near Bonelli Landing (towards Temple Bar). These plants can most easily be seen along Northshore Road (Lake Mead NRA). For more detailed info and pictures click the title above. |
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 Checker Fiddleneck (Amsinckia tessellata), a.k.a. Devil’s Lettuce, is an erect, bristly annual plant can be from 8-24 inches in height. Its stiff leaf hairs have bulbous bases. Its five-parted, 1/3-2/3 inch long flowers are generally yellow (sometimes orange) and sit atop a 2-5 inch coiled stem. the petals of the flower are less and a 1/4 inch wide and the flower tubes are cylindrical. The lobes have white hairs on the margins. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Century Plant (Agave americana), a.k.a. American Aloe. It is a common misconception that agave's are cacti. They are not related to cacti, nor are they closely related to Aloe whose leaves are similar in appearance. It is an agave originally from Mexico. Chiefly Mexican, agave's can be found in the southern and western United States and in central and tropical South America. They are succulents with a large rosette of thick fleshy leaves, from a greenish yellow to a grayish blue-green, each ending generally in a sharp point and with a spiny margin; its spreading rosette can be up to 13 feet wide with leaves up to 6 feet, each with a spiny margin and a heavy spike at the tip that can pierce to the bone. When it flowers, the spike with a cyme of big yellow flowers may reach up to 26 feet in height. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata, a.k.a. Little Stinker, greasewood and Chaparral, is a perennial evergreen shrub growing to 3.3 to 9.8 feet tall, and rarely to 13 feet where there is heavy rain. The stems of the plant bear resinous, small dark green leaves with two opposite lanceolate leaflets joined at the base, with a deciduous awn between them, each leaflet 0.28 to 0.71 inches long and 0.16 to 0.33 inches broad. The leaf color, often shiny with wax, depends on season (water): leaves are dark green to yellowish green during spring when water is available, but they turn brown during summer or when water is not available.The flowers are up to 0.98 inches in diameter, with five solitary yellow petals. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
Desert Alyssum (Lepedium fremontii): Desert Alyssum, a.k.a. Fremont's peppergrass, desert peppergrass, and desert pepperweed, is a one to two foot perennial that likes the conditions native to the Mojave Desert. It needs perfect drainage and full sun. It has great masses of small, four-parted white flowers. The individual white-petaled, yellow-centered flowers of lepidium fremontii are tiny, about 1/4 inch in diameter, but they form dense, spherical or elongated clusters, on a shrub-like plant which is unremarkable for much of the year when not in bloom but quite distinctive in spring and early summer.
 Desert Five Spot (Eremalche rotundifolia), a.k.a. Falsemallow, Lantern Flower, Chinese Lantern, and Fivespot Mallow, is a flowering plant in the family Malvaceae, native to the Mojave Desert in the southwestern United States, where it is found in open places, sandy and rocky areas, and in washes between 50 and 1,500 m in elevation. It can be found in Death Valley National Park in southern California. This annual plant usually grows from 4–12 inches tall, with rounded leaves .75-3 inches broad with a toothed margin. The flowers are rose-pink to lilac with five petals, each with a dark red spot at the base. |
 Desert Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), a.k.a. Apricot Mallow, is a member of the genus Sphaeralcea in the mallow family (Malvaceae) This two foot perennial shrub contains many one inch orange flowers on two to three foot spikes, the number of which increase with the age of the plant. The flowers are apricot to orange in color and bloom in the spring. It is mostly a desert plant native to parts of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Desert Holly (Atriplex hymenelytra) is a species of saltbush that is a perennial shrub native to the Southwestern United States and the Mojave Desert. This is a desert-dwelling shrub, reaches heights of between 1.5-3 feet. Although not a true holly, desert holly gets its name because its leaves look like holly. It is generally a rounded bush covered in distinctive reflective silver-gray, twisted, oblong, many-pointed leaves. The color is from salt left on their leaves, this helps reflect the light and therefore reduce the amount of water lost. The small reddish fruits are enclosed in disc-shaped bracteoles after flowering. It is a common component of shrub communities on alkaline and saline soils at low elevations in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Desert Larkspur (Delphinium parishii - ssp parishii, a.k.a. Parish's Larkspur, is a flowering perennial forb in the family Ranunculaceae (the buttercup family) with unusual and complex flowers borne on a single, unbranched, upright 2-3-foot tall stalk. The dark blue flowers have the appearance of an open corolla tube with long, reflexed (bent backwards) petals and an even longer spur sticking out the back of the flower. It is found in Upper Sonoran life zones at elevations between 1,000 to 8,000 feet. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata) are annual flowers with relatively large, showy, yellow flowers that can turn the landscape yellow during a good year. Sometimes a perennial shrub, it grows to about 1-1/2 feet tall and 2-feet across.The flower is a showy daisy-like flower (composite with disk and ray flowers), bright yellow to yellow-orange, to about 1-1/2 inches across. Desert Marigolds are common components of the spring wildflower display along washes and on bajadas in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Desert Sage (Salvia dorrii), a.k.a. Purple Sage,Tobacco sage, Dorr's sage, Mint sage or Desert Purple Sage, is a herbaceous perennial in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to mountain areas in the western United States. This beautiful subshrub grows to 1-3 feet in height and width high with gray foliage and deep, deep blue flowers and purple bracts. The flower bracts are broad, about 0.4 inches wide and are reddish purple. Flowers are pale blue to purple, 0.4 to 0.5 inches long, and occur in a series of showy, terminal clusters. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Desert Sand Verbina (Abronia villosa) is a glandular-pubescent much-branched annual wildflower with stems either prostrate or ascending and somewhat sticky. Up to 20 inches across and 3-6 inches high, it grows in creeping prostrate masses along the ground. It has oval-shaped dull green leaves and many peduncles bearing rounded inflorescences of bright magenta or purplish-pink trumpet-shaped, 5-lobed, fragrant flowers, 2 to 3 inches wide that have flower stalks up to 10 inches long, with 1-3 inch stems trailing up to 3 feet. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Desert Sunflower (Geraea canescens), a.k.a. Hairy Desert Sunflower or Desert Gold. Its annual yellow sunflower-like flower head grows on the end of a slender, hairy stem. It grows 1-3 feet high. The sparse, gray-green, ovate, leaves grow to 3 inches long and have toothed margins. Its two-inch, golden-yellow flower head is composed of 10 to 20 oblong rays surrounding a golden disk. It grows in sandy, barren desert flats and roadsides below 3,000 feet. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
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 Dune Evening Primrose (Oenothera deltoides) a.k.a. White Desert Primrose, Birdcage Evening Primrose, Devil's Lantern, Lion-in-a-Cage, Basket Evening Primrose. This bush-like, sweet-scented annual is most often a grayish green, creeping dune plant growing 2 to 18 inches high and spreading as wide as 40 inches. Its 4-petaled white flowers are about one inch long, and turn yellow toward the center where they support yellow stamens. They can be found growing in sandy places below 3,500 feet; creosote bush scrub, joshua tree woodland, and sand dunes. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 English Daisy (Bellis perennis), a.k.a. Common Daisy, European Daisy and Lawn Daisy, is a common European species of daisy, of the Asteraceae family, native to western, central and northern Europe, it has been widely naturalized in most temperate regions including the Americas. This is a herbaceous perennial; sometimes evergreen with short creeping rhizomes and small rounded or spoon-shaped rosettes of leaves that are from 3/4 to 2 inches long and grow flat to the ground,may form large colonies. It is a low, mat-forming to prostrate with upright leafless stems. Its lower leafs are small, oval, 1-2 inches long, in basal rosette. The flower head is .75 to 1.5 inches in diameter, with white ray florets (often tipped red) and yellow disc florets.For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Fringed Amaranth (Amaranthus fimbriatus) is an annual herb. This weedy plant grows in sandy, gravelly, and disturbed areas. The flowers of this plant are usually light or pale green in mid-summer to early fall, yet turn to a brownish, pinkish red late in the season. They are both scattered in the leaf axils and densely clustered on long, thin, leafy, often curving terminal flower spikes. The flowers are disk-shaped and have 5 broad, clawed tepals with fringed or toothed edges. The leaves are green, simple, alternate, linear to narrowly lanceolate in shape, and up to 4 and 3/4 inches long. The slender stems are upright, often reddish in color and can be up to 40 inches in height. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
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 Golden Evening Primrose (Camissonia brevipes) Evening-Primrose (Camissonia brevipes), a.k.a. Yellow Cups, is an annual forb with basal leaves and a flowering stalk. The flowers, clustered at the top, are 4-petaled and yellow with a stigma that hangs out beyond the petals. Its height is usually less than 2 feet. It blooms during early spring. It likes washes and gravel or rocky soils and can be found at elevations up to 5,000 feet; though is usually found in lower elevations. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Gravel Ghost (Atrichoseris platyphylla), a.k.a. Tobacco Weed and Parachute Plant, is an annual herb that is native to California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. It produces a low basal rosette of rounded leaves patterned with gray-green and purple patches at ground level. It sends up a weedy-looking thin branching stem topped with a number of attractive, fragrant white or pink-tinged flowers with layered ray florets about 1 inch across, that are rectangular and toothed. The flowers are fragrant and readily withering. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Green-leaf Manzanita (Ericaceae Arctostaphylos) is a bushy evergreen shrub with smooth, reddish brown, spreading stems which are up to 3-4 high and can propagate by layering, and growing to 6 feet with stiff, gnarly branches. The leaf is Alternate, simple, persistent; 1 to 2 inches long, leathery, and ovate to elliptical; entire margins, green and smooth on both surfaces, often orient themselves perpendicular to the sun's rays. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Halogeton (Halogeton glomeratus: Halogeton is a species of flowering plant in the amaranth family known by the common names saltlover, Aral barilla, and halogeton. It is native to Russia and China, but the plant is probably better known in the western United States, where it is an introduced species and a notorious noxious weed. This annual herb is a hardy halophyte, thriving in soils far too saline to support many other plants. It also grows in alkali soils such as those on alkali flats and disturbed, barren habitat.  |
 Indigo Bush (Psorothamnus arborescens) can be found growing on dry hills and in desert valley flats between 500 to 4000 feet in elevation, yet mostly in Creosote Bush scrub in the northern and central Mojave Desert. These are generally a thorny, thickly branched, strongly scented bush. This spreading, somewhat spiny, finely branched small shrub can grow to around 2-5 feet tall and spread to 3-6 feet wide. The flowers are an intense deep violet-blue produced in dense clusters at the branch tips. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja angustifolia) a.k.a Desert Indian Paintbrush or Northwestern Paintbrush. It is an herbaceous perennial native to the desert scrub and woodlands of western North America. This Indian paintbrush is usually less than 18 inches height and has bristly gray-green to purple-red herbage. It stands in a clump of erect stems, each topped with a cluster of somewhat tubular bright red flowers. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
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 Manybristle Chinchweed (Pectis papposa), a.k.a. Manybristle Chinchweed is a summer blooming annual plant which is found across the desert southwest from New Mexico to California and northern Mexico (in the Sonoran Desert and the Chihuahuan Desert) at elevations below 6,000 feet. With surprising promptness after the first summer rain, the desert floor is carpeted with the small yet bright yellow flowers. Its life zone is the sandy, dry areas of desert plains to rising foothills. Though the individual flowers are smaller than a dime, each ‘patch’ can spread out to more than a foot. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Mesquite Mistletoe (Phoradendron californicum), a.k.a. Desert Mistletoe is a perennial woody hemi-parasitic shrub with branches 3.9–31 inches long, that grows on other trees. The foliage is dichotomously branching, with minimal opposite pairs of leaves. It is native to the southern deserts of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Baja California. It can be found in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts under 4000 feet elevation. During the winter it produces numerous, small spherical, translucent, sticky white, pink, or red berries. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Miniature Lupine (Lupinus bicolor), a.k.a Miniature Annual Lupine, Pigmy-leaved Lupine, is a small, grayish, hairy, branched plant with palmately compound leaves and blue-violet and white pea flowers arranged in whorls in short, thick, cone-like racemes. The pea-like flowers occur in a short raceme and are subtended by small, palmately compound leaves. Though there are many other annual lupines, I believe this is the correct classification. Growing up to 16 inches in height, it grows off a hairy, erect single stem that is often branched. Its leaf petiole is 1/2–2 1/2 inches, palmately divided into 5–7 narrow leaflets, hairless or covered with tiny hairs on upper surface.For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Mojave Prickly Poppy (Argemone corymbosa, a.k.a. Prickly Poppy and Desert Prickly Poppy, is a perennial herbaceous flowering forb in the family Papaveraceae native to the eastern Mojave Desert of the southwestern United States. The plant grows in sandy places and on dry slopes, generally in disturbed areas like washes and roadsides, between 1,300 and 3,500 feet. It grows to a height between 16-32 inches and 2-3 feet wide. Flowers are 1.5 to 5 inches in diameter, with four (or 6) white petals and an orange-colored center. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Narrow Leaf Popcorn Flower (Cryptantha angustifolia)is a member of the Forget-me-not or Borge Family. There are more than 40 species of this genus in California alone. Its flowers, growing in clusters, are small, white, 5-petaled, about 1-inch, and grow in a coil at the end of branches. The “popcorn” flowers are so-called because they are white and clustered at the top of the coil, looking like popcorn. It grows from 6-20 inches in height and has grayish, very hairy, narrow leaves to about 1.5 inches in length. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
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 Notch Leaved Phacelia (Phacelia crenulata) Notch-Leaved Phacelia (Phacelia crenulata), a.k.a. Cleftleaf Wild Heliotrope, Scorpionweed, Scalloped Phacelia and Caterpillarweed. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is an annual plant that grows from 3-24 inches tall. Its open flower clusters, coiled like a scorpion’s tail, are made up of many small, bell-shaped, purple flowers with white or light blue throats that all grow from the same side of the branching flower stalks. Flowers are 1/2 inch wide and have 5 round lobes. The petals of the flowers vary from deep violet to blue-purple in color and up to a half inch long. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Pebble Pincusion Chaenactis carphoclinia is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family. This annual herb grows an erect, branching stem up to about 20 inches in maximum height. The longest leaves are about 3 inches long and are usually divided into a few lobes. The inflorescence bears a few flower heads, each up to an inch wide. The head is lined with flat, sharp-pointed phyllaries which are reddish in color. The head contains several white or pink-tinted flowers with long, protruding anthers. The fruit is an achene a few millimeters in length tipped with a scaly pappus. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in rocky and gravelly desert habitats. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Petiolate Beardtongue (Penstemon petiolatus) a.k.a. Crevice Pestemon and Sheep Range beardtongue, is a low rounded, shrub growing to about 6 inches tall and up to 24 inches across. It has short bark that is gnarled with age, with branching stems. In spring and early summer it produces beautiful, deep purple tubular flowers - inflorescence: cyme with 1-4 tubular flowers. It is most often found in limestone cliffs in the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran life zone. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Prickly Sow Thistle (Sonchus asper), a.k.a. Sonchus the Sharp-fringed Sow Thistle, Prickly Sow Thistle, Spiny Sow Thistle, or Spiny-leaved Sow Thistle, is an annual weed with very spiny leaves and yellow flowers that resemble those of a dandelion. A full-grown plant can reach 5-6 feet in height. They can be found in vacant lots, roadsides, fields, and other recently disturbed areas throughout most of North America. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Rattlesnake Weed (Euphorbia albomarginata), a.k.a. Whitemargin Sandmat, is a small low-growing annual native to desert, chaparral, and grassland habitats from southern and central California to Northern Mexico and Louisiana. It can be easily identified by its small size, dusty green leaves, very flattened growth pattern, and the white circular margin around the edge of its burgundy centered flowers. This ground cover plant is usually no more than 1/2 inch high, with individual plants growing closely and forming mats of vegetation covering roughly a square foot. The flowers of this plant are tiny and edged in white, with a purplish or burgundy center. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Rocky Mountain Phlox (Phlox multiflora). With more than 60 species tied to the Phlox family, it has been difficult to pin this plant down; this perennial herb is either Cold Desert Phlox (Phlox stansburyi), a.k.a. Pink Phlox, or Rocky Mountain Phlox (Phlox multiflora). I’m going with Rocky Mountain Phlox. Both appear to be native to the southwestern United States from California to Utah to Texas, where they occur in desert and plateau scrub and woodland habitat. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Showy Goldeneye (Heliomeris multiflora) grows throughout the mountain west from foothills elevations up to the subalpine (3,000-11,800 feet). It inhabits open, dry to moderately moist slopes and is very common in washes and along roadsides. It blooms from June through September. This herbaceous perennial plant grows in bushy clumps standing 1 to 4 feet tall. The leaves are broadly to narrowly lance-shaped, slightly toothed, and 1 to 3 inches long. All but the uppermost leaves are opposite on the stem. The flower heads are borne at the ends of the branches. Both the ray flowers and disk flowers are yellow forming heads 1 to 1.5 inches broad. This picture was taken in Lovell Canyon. |
 Smooth Desert Dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata), a.k.a. Desert Dandelion, is an annual forb that grows in sunny, open, sandy washes and flats. Its dandelion-like flower heads are up to 1 3/4 inches wide and have numerous, slender, strap-shaped, square-tipped, 5-toothed corollas. The sparse leaves are green, alternate, mainly basal, and usually pinnately lobed with 3 to 6 or more pairs of long, threadlike lobes. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence (flowering head), and its name is derived from the flower's shape and image, which is often used to depict the sun. The plant has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of many individual flowers which mature into seeds, often in the hundreds, on a receptacle base. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Tidy Fleabane (Erigeron concinnus), a.k.a. Navajo fleabane and Shaggy daisy, is a perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to the dry mountains of the Mojave Desert around Death Valley in southeast California and Nevada. It can also be found in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. “Erigerons”, commonly called "Daisies" or "Fleabanes", are a large and complex genus; there are 130 species in North America and 200 world-wide.For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Utah Penstemon Penstemon utahensis), Utah Penstemon (penstemon utahensis), a.k.a. Utah Firecracker, is an erect, hairless perennial that is usually between 1-2 feet tall. It has thick, opposite, entire leaves that are often folded lengthwise. They have clasping bases that are up to 20 inches long near the base of the plant, decreasing in size up to the stem. Its red, tubular to funnel-shaped flowers are about 1 inch long with upper lobes that spread backward. They are usually found in rock places between 4,000 and 5,000 feet in desert scrub and Pinyon-Juniper woodlands from southern Utah to northern Arizona. Their flowering season is early spring, April to May.For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Virgin River Cryptantha (Cryptantha virginensis) is a species of wildflower in the borage family. known by the common name Virgin River cryptantha. This small plant is native to the southwestern United States where it is a common in scrub and woodland. This cryptantha is an annual or occasionally a perennial up to 40 centimeters in height. It is coated densely in long white hairs and bristles. The inflorescence (group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches) is cylindrical or club-shaped, packed with tubular flowers with flat-faced corollas. The flower is usually bright white with yellow throat parts at the tube opening. The fruit is a rough, ridged nutlet. Picture was taken in Lovell Canyon. |
 Western Salsify (Asteraceae Tragopogon dubius), a.k.a. Goat's Beard, Wild Oysterplant, Yellow Salsify, Yellow Goat's Beard, Meadow Goat's Beard, Goat's Beard, Goatsbeard, Common Salsify, or Salsify., grows as an annual or occasionally biennial forb, reaching a height of typically 1 to 3 feet tall with narrow leaves up to 12 inches long. Pale lemon-yellow flower heads, 2-3 inches in diameter, are at the end of long hollow peduncles. The 8 to 13 bracts are longer than the flowers. The stock of the Western Salsify is swollen just beneath the flower. It grows typically in warm, sheltered spots with moist soil. |
 Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata) is an uncommon annual forb that looks like a small, rounded shrub (a mound of crinkled leaves) topped with large, cup-shaped, pale yellow flowers. The medium-sized leaves are hairy, and the flowers have five petals and many stamens. Its stems are thick, but not woody. Its hairy leaves are irregularly toothed, alternate, linear to oval, and are about 3./4 of an inch long. Its inflorescence, single pale yellow flowers have 5 petals, from 1/2 to 2-1/2 inches, and contain 1-inch stamens. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
 Yellow Spine Thistle (Cirsium ochrocentrum) is a perennial that grows to 5 feet. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by bees, flies, lepidoptera, beetles, and self.The plant is self-fertile. It prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil; preferring acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. Oddly, it requires dry or moist soil. Its thistles are known for their effusive flower heads, usually purple or rose to pink, also yellow or white. For more detailed info and pictures, click on the title above. |
 Yerba Mansa (Anemopsis californica), a.k.a. Lizard Tail, is a stoloniferous perennial flowering plant within the family Saururaceae, that has woolly stems, 4-20 in. high, are subtended by large, waxy, dull gray-green basal leaves that lay flat on the ground and form mats that from a distance look like a permanent pasture. Stems root as they grow along the surface, forming an unusual, solid ground cover. Yerba mansa is showy in spring when in bloom. Spikes of odd, whitish flowers occur at the top of the flowering stem. The conic white 'flowers' (actually reduced inflorescences, or pseudanthia) are borne in early spring, and are surrounded by 5-10 large white bracts. For more detailed info and pictures, click the title above. |
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