Castilleja exserta (purple owl's clover) ( )

Orthocarpus purpurascens

Purple owl's clover is a California grassland species that extends its range into the wester Mojave Desert. This is a showy annual species with bright magenta flowers with white or yellow markings on the petals. In wet years it often occurs in dense populations that color the landscape. Like other root parasites it appears as any other plant, with foliage indicating the presence of chlorophyll and active photosynthesis. However they supplement nutrient and carbohydrate supplies with parasitic roots that tap the below-ground tissues of other species. "California Desert Plants, Philip W Rundel, Robert J Gustafson, Michael E Kauffmann."
Owl-clover covers large areas in southern Arizona with a purplish glow for a few weeks each wet spring. This color is as much a function of the bracts beneath each flower as it is of the sepals and petals themselves. Its flowering spikes vary from hot purplish-pink, to velvety red-violet with yellow spots. Alone or in mixed stands, this annual inhabits plains, mesas, and slopes of deserts and grasslands between 1, 500 and 4, 500 feet. Early April is the best time to catch its color, but flowering may be just beginning then or may already be in its fourth week. "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988."