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Proboscidea parviflora

  Proboscidea parviflora  (devil's claw, unicorn plant) ( ) Martyniaceae The reddish purple, pink, and yellow-striped tubular flower of this species attracts large bees, which trigger the sensitive stigma to "slam shut" a few seconds after pollen is deposited. After the fruit matures from its okra-like green stage, it sloughs off its skin, splits down the middle, and two horn-like projections curl back. Southwestern Indians have domesticated a variety with unusually long horns whose fibers are woven into baskets for design elements. On wet roadsides or in washes, annual devil's claw will sometimes begin to flower in mid-May, but the bulk of the plants germinate with summer rains and kick into flowering within three weeks. This second flush in mid-July may last through mid-October. The range of annual devil's claw has been greatly extended by Indian trade and livestock so that it now stretches from 500 to 5, 000 feet elevation.  "Arizona Highways Presents Dese...
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Kallstroemia grandiflora

    Kallstroemia grandiflora  (Arizona-poppy) ( ) Zygophyllaceae This summer bloomer has five orange petals, each with pale red veins. Numerous flowers bloom simultaneously on this ground-creeping herb with divided leaves. It germinates with the first summer rains, then sprawls out in wet pockets along roads and washes to cover whole patches with luxuriant growth. Quick to bloom once established, its desert and grassland flowering season may extend from early July through October, but most years it lasts only from late July to mid-September. Bees are active pollinating this plant not because they like pollen; they groom it off when it sticks to them.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".
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Cochlospermum palmatifidum

  Cochlospermum palmatifidum   (saiya) (saya) Amoreuxia palmatifida  Bixaceae These herbs rise, after the summer rains, from a perennial tuberous rootstock and persist above ground less than three months The orange flower cluster above o between the hand-shaped leaves. Lacking nectar but still showy, the five petals have brown spots at their bases and numerous stamens, which drop their pollen when bees buzz or vibrate their wings nearby. Every part of the plant is edible, from parsnip-like roots to seed capsules which are used as coffee substitute. Found in hills and canyons from 3, 000 to 6, 000 feet, it flowers July through September.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988"
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Tecoma stans

  Tecoma stans  (trumpetflower) (tronadora) Bignoniaceae A multi-stemmed shrub with shiny leaves divided into five arrow-shaped leaflets, trumpetflower showers its landscape with golden flowers much of the year. In frost-free areas, it grows into a large tree. Trumpetflower roots continue to be used medicinally in Mexico. It prefers dry, rockym or gravelly slopes below 5, 500 feet in deserts or in grasslands and woodlands canyons qhich drain into deserts. The flower has a sensitive stigma, which slams shut like a clam when touched. Trumpetflowers begin to bloom and attract large bees in late April, flowering sporadically into November or December.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988"
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Sambucus mexicana

  Sambucus mexicana  (elderberry) (sauco) Adoxaceae As a large tree with opposite, divided leaves and flat-topped clusters of white blossoms, this Arizona wildflower is quite distinct from all others so far mentioned. This is the only elder in the state which reaches beyond the mountains. It has many different pollinators, making it a generalist. Both the flowers and fruits have been used as folk medicines, and when cooked, the fruits are edible or suitable for wine-making. The Mexican elder flowers from March into early July. It frequently grows next to streams and irrigation ditches.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988"
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Prosopis velutina

   Prosopsis velutina  (velvetmesquite) (mezquite)  Fabaceae Perhaps the most common Sonoran Desert tree, mesquite is known nationwide for fine furniture, firewood, and for the mild-flavored honey produced by the bees that flavor its flowers. An average-sized tree produces 12 million flowers per season. This species has slighlty curved, often speckled pods with sticky beads of sugary sap on them and 12 to 20 leaflets nearly touching one another on each of two to four compound leaves. Roots run deep, often reaching underground water. The pods of this nitrogen-producing tree were the single most important food of Sonoran Desert Indians. The velvet mesquite blooms commences in late April, wanes by early June, then reinitiates in early August. Mesquites are somewhat sensitive to long freezes.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988."
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Datura

  Datura  ( ) (Toloache) Solanaceae (Datura meteloides) A perennial datura, this widespread jimsonweed has fragrant white trumpet flowers with a purple or lavender flush in the throat. Its nodding, apple-shaped capsules are spiny and open irregularly to drop their buff seeds. Daturas, which are visited by both hawk-moths and honeybees, have a long but irregular blooming season. This species is a deep-rooted drought tolerator that flowers after any substantial rain between April and November. A diminutive annual relative, Datura discolor , has a shorter blooming period and smaller range but is just as attractive. Both are poisonous.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988"
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