Allionia incarnata

 Allionia incarnata (windmills) ( )

Nyctaginaceae

  • Windmills is an annual or short-lived perennial with slender, glandular stems that trail along the ground. What appears to be a single, radial symmetrical magenta-colored flower are actually clusters of three bilaterally symmetrical flowers growing together. Windmills favor sandy sols in creosote bush scrub across the southern Mojave and Sonoran deserts. "California Desert Plants, Philip W Rundel, Robert J Gustafson, Michael E Kauffmann."
  • The plant spreads over the ground. For this reason it is considered a female plant. It is a perennial herb with trailing stems dying back to the roots in severe drought. It has lavender flowers several times larger than those of Boerhavia coulteri. It is common over a wide range of habitats on the mainland and Tiburon and San Esteban islands. Medicine: the plant was cooked in water and the tea drunk to cure diarrhea. "People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians".

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