Bursera hindsiana  ( ) ( ) Burseraceae The Hant Caai (land maker) caused a tree to grow. This first tree was a red elephant tree ( Bursera hindsiana ).  “People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Richard Stephen Felger and Mary Beck Moser” The common elephant tree was strongly involved in the vision quest and religious concepts and might be considered as the Seri "holy bush".  Icoocmolca  "what (blame) is put on (plural)"fetishes carved from the wood of the red elephant tree ( Burserda hindsiana ) served as messengers to the spiritual world. Also involved in the quest for spiritual power were desert lavender ( Condea emoryi ).   “People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Richard Stephen Felger and Mary Beck Moser”

     Fouquieria columnaris  (boojum trees) ( ) Fouquieriaceae The firs man and woman had children and eventually a number of giants inhabited the land. The land was flat, without mountains or even sand dunes, so it was natural that floods should occur. Floods were accompanied by fire, smoke, and earthquakes. After one such disaster, Hant Caai (land maker) saw that because the land was flat, the people had little chance to escape the destruction. So he sang a song, causing mountains, hills, and dunes to form. These were to provide protection for the people during floods. In one such flood a group of giants from the south fled northward to the mountains south of Puerto Libertad. There the flood overtook them and changed them into boojum trees, which still occur there.  “People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Richard Stephen Felger and Mary Beck Moser”

  Xanthium spinosum  ( ) ( ) Asteraceae Stems erect or ascending, branching, 2-10 dm. tall, puberulent; leaves lanceolate, 4-8 cm. long, with a pair of long, narrow lobes on lower half of blade, sometimes with a few small lobes above middle, green above, densely white-pubescent on lower surface, shortly petioled, each with a pair of long, yellow, 3- or 4-parted, stipular spines at base; fruiting bur weakly spiny, tomentose, about 1 cm. long, the beaks inconspicuous. Abundant in waste fields, sometimes along dikes and edges of marshy areas; introduced European weed occasional throughout the United States.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

  Iva hayesiana  ( ) ( ) Asteraceae Herbage glabrate to rough-pubescent, more or less resinous-dotted; stems woody below, not densely leafy, openly branched, the branches ascending from base, to 1 m. tall; leaves spatulate to linear, 3-6 cm. long, narrowed to a short petiole, usually obtuse, heads clustered on short peduncles in a narrow, spike-like, bracteate panicle, the bracts leaflike but reduced; phyllaries distinct, oval to orbicular, 5-10, deciduous in age. Alkaline flats or brackish areas: San Diego County, south to Baja California.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

  Helianthus annuus  (common sunflower) (girasol) Asteraceae Stout annual; stem very hispid and rough, simple or profusely branching, 3-30 dm. tall; leaf blades 7-30 cm. long, usually broadly ovate, serrate, truncate to subcordate, rough-scabrous, green, the petiole often as long as or longer than the blade; heads single and terminal on long, stout peduncles, or the inflorescence forming an open, cymose, long-branched, long-peduncled, leafy-bracted panicle; phyllaries 1.5-2 cm. long, 5-10 mm. wide, broadly ovate, as long as or sometimes longer than the disc flowers, often conspicuously ciliate and densely hispid to hirsute, the apex abruptly narrowed and produced into a long, tail-like acumination; receptacle bracts apically 3-cleft, all 3 cusps acute, the lateral ones somewhat lacerate, the longer, lanceolate middle cusps acute, the lateral ones somewhat lacerate, the longer, lanceolate middle cusp hispid almost to its purple, acuminate, tip, about as long as the disc flowers...

   Pseudognaphalium luteoalbum  ( ) ( ) Gnaphalium luteoalbum Asteraceae Annual, stems 1-3 dm. tall, usually with many sterile, leafy branches from base; herbage white-woolly; leaves oblong-spatulate, auriculate and clasping but scarcely decurrent; inflorescence mainly terminal, usually a dense, globose cluster or the clusters forming a congested or open, corymbose panicle; heads 3-3.5 mm. high; involucre greenish to light brownish, woolly only at base, the phyllaries ovate to oblanceolate or lanceolate, hyaline except for the small, central, herbaceous part, which is pubescent but scarcely glandular, the tips or papillate; pappus bristles hairy below, the hairs interlocking and the bristles tending to cohere at base and to fall in groups. Cultivated in fields and along irrigation ditches; introduced from the Old World. This weedy species has become increasingly common in California in recent years. It is not always easily distinguished from the larger Gnaphalium chilense...

   Erigeron canadensis  ( ) ( ) Asteraceae Erect annual; stems simple below, paniculately branched above, 2-20 dm. tall; herbage hispid with scattered hairs or glabrous, usually dark or bright green; leaves linear to lanceolate, sessile or the lower leaves narrowed to a petiole, entire or toothed, 5-10 cm. long; heads 3-4 mm. high in a dense panicle; phyllaries scarious-margined, nearly glabrous; rays inconspicuous, white, toothed. Common weed in waste places, often abundant on floodlands and along streams. Throughout California at low altitudes; to eastern United States. It is not common in wet habitats, but as a wasteland weed it is to be expected on floodlands.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

   Solanum douglasii  ( ) ( ) Solanaceae Bushy perennial, 0.6-2 m. tall, with angled stems; herbage puberulent to subglabrate. the simple antrorse hairs with heavy, conical bases; leaves ovate, 2-10 cm. long, coarsely sinuate-dentate. acute to short-acuminate, cuneate to subtruncate at base, sparsely puberulent; inflorescence several-flowered, the peduncle 1-3 cm. long, remaining erect at maturity, the pedicels slender, 5-12 mm. long; calyx 2-3 mm/ long at anthesis, the lobes lanceolate-oblong; corolla white with greenish basal spots, the lobes lanceolate-oblong, 6-11 mm. long; anthers 2.6-4 mm. long; style well exserted beyond anthers; seeds light yellow, minutely reticulate-pitted. Streamsides, swales in coastal dunes, drying floodlands, dry slopes, and waste places: coastal North Coast Ranges in Mendocino County, South Coast Ranges from San Mateo County south to southern California; Baja California, east and south through Arizona and New Mexico to northern Mexico....

   Stachys ajugoides  ( ) ( ) Lamiaceae Rhizomatous perennial; stems erect, or decumbent at base, 10-60 cm. long; herbage villous to hirsute and somewhat glandular; leaves oblong to oblanceolate, narrower at base. crenate to crenate-serrate, long-petioled to sub-sessile; spikes 8-20 cm. long, dense or interrupted, verticels 6-flowered; calyx 6-8 mm long, the teeth lanceolate to deltoid, cuspidate; corolla white to rose, 10-15 mm. long, the upper lip 4-6 mm. long, the lower lip 5-7 mm. long, the tube 7-0 mm. long, saccate near the base, the hairy ring oblique; filaments pubescent. Wet ground at low altitudes: Central Valley and bordering foothills, Coast Ranges south to Los Angeles County.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

  Trianthema portulacastrum  ( ) ( ) Aizoaceae Decumbent, succulent annual herb, branching much as in Cypselea, leaves opposite, simple, petioled, the blades orbicular-ovate, the opposing members of a pair unequal in size; flowers solitary, sessile, inconspicuous, borne under the axillary sheath at every node; sepals lanceolate, mucronate; petals none; stamens 5 or 6; ovary 2-celled or with 1 cell aborted; capsule several-seeded, circumscissile, the thickened, often bilobed, crestlike apical part containing a single embedded seed falling with the capsule valve. Weed along irrigation ditches: Imperial Valley; to Texas and Florida, Baja California and the West Indies.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

  Suaeda nigra  ( ) ( ) Suaeda torreyana, Suaeda fruticosa Chenopodiaceae Suaeda torreyana: plants green, essentially glabrous or sometimes puberulent or sparsely pubescent above, much-branched, erect or ascending. 3-10 dm. tall; twigs and branches usually slender, the internodes usually conspicuous; leaves 2-3 cm. long, linear, very evidently flat, those of the inflorescence becoming reduced to 1-3 times as long as the flower cluster; flowers 1-5 in a cluster in the leaf axils, the clusters separated by the slender, often wiry, internode; calyx deeply cleft, the lobes rounded on back; seeds black, minutely tuberculate. Alkaline floodlands: east of the Sierra Nevada, also Colorado River area and Imperial Valley; north to eastern Oregon, east to Utah and New Mexico. The plants most obviously pubescent have been segregated as Sueda ramosissimma , but intergradations seem to make clear definition difficult between S. ramosissima and S. torreyana .  "A Flora of the Marshes of...

  Salicornia pacifica  ( ) ( ) Amaranthaceae Suffruticose perennial, erect, decumbent, or prostate, usually from a horizontal rhizome, occasionally rooting along the decumbent or prostrate branches, or the individual plant solitary and erect; joints constricted at nodes, 2-5 mm. thick; leaves reduced to a perfoliate collar with opposite cusps, these often obscure, glabrous, glaucous or green; spikers 1-10 cm. long, terminating the ultimate branches, the joints 1.5-2.5 mm. long, usually wider than long, the middle flower of each triad only slightly higher than the lateral ones; sepals 4 or 3, fuses or sometimes those of lateral flowers nearly free; stamens 2, not simultaneous in anthesis; seeds covered with white stiff, appressed hairs, falling free from calyx on dehiscence or adhering to it and falling with it. Salt marshes along the coast: from Baja California to British Columbia, and sparingly in wet saline or alkaline floodlands in the interior. Specimens from the interior ...

  Nitrophila occidentalis  ( ) ( ) Amaranthaceae Low, perennial, rhizomatous, glabrous herb; leaves sessile, fleshy, linear, pungent, 1-3 cm. long, reduced upward, opposite; flowers axillary, perfect sepats 5 to 7, imbricate, carinate; petals none; stamens 5, united at base into a thin yellowish disc; style longer than the subglobose ovary; stigmas 2; achene beaked by the persistent style, included within the connivent sepals, the pericarp membranous. Moist alkaline soils: Central Valley, and east of the Sierra Nevada; south to Baja California.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

  Juncus torreyi  ( ) ( ) Juncaceae Stems stout, 2-6 dm. tall, arising singly from tuber-like thickenings on slender rootstocks; leaves terete, the blades more or less abruptly divergent from the stem, 2-5 mm. thick, auricled; inflorescence terminal with 1 to many many-flowered heads forming a condensed panicle, the entire cluster subtended by a long-pointed sheath; perianth segments light brown, lanceolate-subulate, 4-5 mm. long, the outer segments longer than the inner ones; stamens 6, about 1/2 as long as the perianth; capsule subulate, golden brown, as long as the perianth; seeds reticulate. Wet places at elevations below 5,000 feet: almost throughout coastal and desert southern California, Modoc County; east to Atlantic.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

  Schoenoplectus californicus  (California bulrush) ( ) Scirpus californicus Cyperaceae Perennial sedge with stout, subterete to triangular culms to 4 m. tall; leaves reduced to basal sheaths; involucral leaf solitary, erect, shorter than inflorescence; inflorescence loosely umbellate; spikelets narrow, acute, 5-10 mm long; scales ovate, reddish brown; bristles 2-4 dark red, or sometimes pale red, broad and ciliate or plumose, not barbed; style bifid; achene lenticular, 2 mm. long. Common in marshes along coast from San Diego County to Napa County; Central Valley, occasional in the Mojave Desert (Lancaster, Needles). This species is similar in aspect to Scirpus acutus. It can be distinguished, however, not only by the characters given in the key, but also by its subterete to triangular culms (most noticeable in the upper parts); in S. acutus the culms are terete throughout their length. Also, the spikelets of   S. californicus are smaller, and the scales are more con...

  Schoenoplectus americanus  (Three-square bulrush) ( ) Scirpus americanus Cyperaceae Perennial with horizontal rhizomes; culms erect or arched, sharply triangular, stiff and slender, 0.3-1.1 m. tall; leaf blades to 18 cm. long, keeled, convolute, narrow, 2-3 mm. wide; involucral leaf solitary. 3-10 cm. long; inflorescence a capitate cluster of 1-7 spikelets oblong, acuminate, 8-12 mm. long; scales pale brown to chocolate brown, cleft at apex, short-awned; bristles 2-6, downwardly barbed, unequal in length, from slightly longer than only 1/2 as long as the achene; style 2- or 3-cleft; achene lenticular, or obtusely trigonous, mucronate, 3 mm. long. Widely distributed in wet ground: along coast from Ventura county to Del Norte County, occasional in San Bernardino County and Imperial County; Inyo, Mono, Lassen, and Modoc counties; San Joaquin Valley; occasional in Sacramento Valley.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason". Scirpus olneyi Perennial sedge wi...

  Eleocharis geniculata  ( ) ( ) Cyperaceae Annual with fibrous roots and caespitose culms; culms subfiliform, striate, 5-25 cm. tall, or sometimes 40 cm. tall; basal leaf sheaths loose, obliquely truncate, with an attenuate tooth; spikelets ovoid, obtuse, much thicker than the culm, many-flowered; scales ovate, obtuse, pale brown with a scarious margin; bristles 6-8, as long as achene; stamens 2 or 3; style bifid; achene depressed, constricted at base, apiculate, spongy, whitish. Marshes and watercourses in southern California: San Bernardino, Riverside, and Imperial counties, widespread.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".

  Phragmites australis  (common reed) ( ) Phragmites communis Poaceae Perennial; culms robust, erect, 2-4 m. tall, with stout, creeping rhizomes, these sometimes on the surface forming leafy stolons as much as 9 m. long; blades broad, flat, 2-6 dm. long, the rachilla clothed with long, silky hairs as long as or shorter than the florets, disarticulating above the glumes and at the base of each joint between the florets; lowest floret staminate or neuter; glumes lanceolate, acute, unequal in size, the first glume about 1/2 a long as the upper glume, the second one shorter than the florets; lemmas narrow, long-acuminate, glabrous, 3-nerved, the florets successively smaller; palea much shorter than the lemma. In fresh-water marshes, on banks of streams, and along irrigation ditches: well established in wet places in the Colorado and Mojave deserts, less common and at scattered localities along the coast from San Diego County to Del Norte County, in the delta region, also east of t...

  Distichlis spicata  (Saltgrass) ( ) Gramineae Culms 1-4 dm. tall, erect or in coastal plants sometimes prostrate and strongly stoloniferous; blades numerous, spreading or sometimes closely ascending or erect, either as long as or longer than or sometimes shorter than the spikes; spikes green, drying straw brown, or in coastal plants often purplish-tinged, 1-6 cm. long, ovate to oblong; spikelets mostly 1-2 cm. long, the pistillate spikelets often congested and more or less closely imbricate, the staminate ones usually less congested and more or less closely imbricate, the individual spikelets more easily distinguished; the first glume 2-3 mm. long, the second 3-4 mm. long, lemmas 3-6 mm. long, the pistillate lemmas more coriaceous and closely imbricate than the staminate ones, sometimes with a broad hyaline margin; palea 3-5 mm. long, rather soft, narrowly or broadly winged below, often with hyaline margins, the keels minutely serrate or serrate-ciliate to near the base, les...

  Typha angustifolia  (Narrow-leaved cattail) ( ) Typhaceae Slender perennial 0.5-1.5 m. tall; pith of stem white; stems about 2/3 as long as the leaves; leaves narrow, plano-concave or plano-convex or strongly convex on the back, 5-6 mm. wide, dark green; sheaths appearing cylindrical below but actually open to base, usually conspicuously auriculate above, rarely some sheaths tapering to the blade, the auricles scarious-margined; pistillate and staminate spikes usually separated by a distance twice as great as the diameter of the pistillate spike or greater, rarely less than 0.5 cm. or more than 12 cm. apart; pistillate spike dark brown to reddish brown or in age becoming greenish brown or mottled, usually 6-10 times as long as broad, 8-20 cm. long, 1.8-2.5 cm. thick; pistillate flowers arranged on compound pedicels which when stripped of appendages appear smooth; bracts spatulate, truncate, their blades dark brown, opaque, and firm, slender-stalked; fertile flowers pediceled...

  Typha latifolia  (Common cat-tail) ( ) Typhaceae Plant usually coarse and stout; pith of the stem base white; leaves 12-16, 8-20 mm. broad, nearly flat, light green; sheaths cylindrical but open to base; the scarious upper margin tapering to blade, rarely truncate or slightly auricled; spike-bearing stems subequal to or longer than leaves; pistillate and staminate spikes usually contiguous, rarely separated; pistillate spike dark greenish brown to reddish brown, in age becoming blotched with white, usually about 6 times as long as thick, 10-18 cm. long, 1.8-3 cm. thick; flowers without bracts or the bracts hairlike, on slender, often hairlike, compound pedicels; stigma medium brown to dark brown, lanceolate-ovate, conspicuously fleshy, persistent; sterile flowers with an ellipsoid aborted ovary, tipped by a rudimentary style and much longer than the functional ovary; stamens on branched filaments often 2 or 3 to a cluster; pollen 4-celled, elsewhere reported as orange for th...

  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...

    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". Direct sowing/ No treatment needed/Time of planting: spring-summer.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".

  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"

  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" Seed in flats for transplanting; direct sowing; fall semi-hardwood cuttings treated with IBA rootinh hormone and misted/ No treatment needed/Time of planting: spring-summer.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".

  Sambucus mexicana  (elderberry) (sauco) Sambucus coerulea 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" Seed in pots for transplanting, softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings treated with IBA rooting hormone and misted/ Use fresh seed. Clean pulp off seed immediately and air dry in sun. Scarify seed in sulfuric acid 1-15 min or warm-stratify for 2 months at temperatures of 70-80 F./Time of planting: spring-summer.  "Ariz...

   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." Seeds in pots or sleeves for transplanting; cuttings with IBA rooting hormone and misted/ Fumigate seed upon collecting t...

  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" Direct sowing; seed in flats for transplanting/ No treatment needed/Time of planting: spring-summer.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".

   Verbesina encelioides  ( ) ( ) Asteraceae This long season annual has triangular, toothed leaves that are grayish-green in color and fetid in odor. Cronwbeard's ray flowers are a gorgeous yellow-orange, each three-notched at its end. The disk flowers are yellow, and are followed by flattened seeds covered with fine, gray-brown hairs, hence the name crownbeard. This plant colonizes disturbed roadsides and abandoned fields, from deserts clear into pines. One set of these plants germinates early, to flower between March and July. Another, large crop, germinates with the late summer rains and flowers between July through December.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988" Direct sowing/ No treatment needed/Time of planting: autumn.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988". Coarse annual; stem erect, freely branching, to 1 m. tall, striate; herbage more or less canescent; leaves 4-8 cm. long, alternate, deltoid-ovate to deltoid-lanceolate,...

  Rafinesquia neomexicana  (desert chicory) ( ) Asteraceae A white-flowered spring bloomer, this annual shares a few superficial features with the blue-flowered perennial chicory introduced from Europe and now widespread throughout much of America. Desert chicory is short but profusely branching and has deeply divided, arrow-shaped leaves. In wet winters, it becomes abundant upon plains, gentle bajadas, and mesas, from 200 feet in the desert, to its grassland edge above 3, 000 feet. In some dry years, it may fail altogether even when other herbs flower. Its bloom may stretch from March to May.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988." Direct sowing/ No treatment needed/Time of planting: autumn.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".

  Lasthenia gracilis  (goldfields) ( ) Lasthenia chrysostoma Asteraceae This low-growing, tiny-flowered annual has linear, opposite leaves and forms small clumps or large carpets after good winter rains. Its small yellow, terminal heads seldom reach six inches in height. Found on mesas and plains from 1, 500 to 4, 500 feet in elevation, goldfields can carpet sandy flats for weeks. They bloom as early as February 20 and as late as mid-April but peak in the middle of March.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988"

  Allicelia latifolia  ( ) ( ) Gilia latifolia Polemoniaceae This pink-lavender, funnelform flower is one of many gilias within Arizona. It is an annual that is frequently visited by hummingbirds and butterflies. In wet springs, it appears in large stands on sandy soils in the Colorado and Gila river valleys, always blow 2, 000 feet. It may be found blooming anytime from mid-March to late April.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988."

  Echinocereus engelmannii  (atrawberry hedgehog) ( ) Cactaceae The reddish-purple or magenta flowers of hedgehogs rupture the skin of this cactus just above the areoles, the places where from two to six central spines cluster along the plant's ribs. The curved spines of this cactus are variable in color, from white or gold to black. Its cup-shaped flowers open for several consecutive days, attracting bees and beetles to their abundant pollen and nectar. Medium-sized bees alight on the stigma and probe into the masses of pollen below. As the bee collects one flower's pollen, it leaves behind other pollen, aiding cross-pollination. Hedgehog blooms often last only two weeks, beginning at the end of March or as late as mid-April. It grows on outwash fans, flats and, hillsides from sea level to 5,000 feet in grasslands.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988". 

  Calochortus kennedyi  (desert mariposa lily) ( ) Liliaceae This striking spring bloomer can be differentiated from other mariposas by its deep orange-red to yellow or vermilion velvety petals, each with a brownish purple spot at the base;. In some places, mariposas are beetle-pollinated. The desert mariposa has clusters of two to four flowers on a stalk rising from a bulb hidden beneath linear, basal leaves. In Arizona, its blossoming is largely limited to April, peaking in mid-month. It is found in many habitats, from desert to grassland and semi-arid woodland vegetation.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988". 

  Sphaeralcea ambigua  (globemallow) ( ) Malvaceae The large number of orange-colored flowers produced by this multi-stemmed mallow over a year provides a steady source of pollen and nectar to honeybees and mallow-specializing bees. Flower color variants occur, including ones with white, purple, red, or grenadine hues. A low-growing perennial herb, desert mallow has long panicles of flowers and roundish, shallow-lobed leaves. The leaves have star-shaped hairs on them that irritate the eyes if accidentally rubbed into them. From dry rocky slopes to washes and the banks of springs, this is one of the most adaptable of the mallow species, which seldom exhibit so much drought tolerance. Below 3,500 feet, this species blooms year around, although each plant has an individual bloom time.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988". 

  Simmondsia chinensis  (jojoba) (jojoba) Simmondsiaceae Although this desert shrub lacks showy flowers, its floral clusters and waxy fruit still intrigue many people. The plant shape guides wind-dispersed pollen toward female flowers, but bees also steal pollen from male plants. Jojoba prefers rocky slopes with coarse soils, above pockets of cold air drainage. The liquid wax extracted from its seeds is currently marketed as a key ingredient in many cosmetics. Jojoba has a long and variable flowering season. At one site, it has extended from mid-January to late-April in some years, but only February and early March in others.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988". 

  Lupinus sparsiflorus  (lupine) ( ) Fabaceae This annual lupine species has violet-blue, pea-like blooms with yellow spots on one petal that turns purplish-red when the flower is manipulated by bees. Lupines have finger-like leaflets which tilt to track the sun at a direct angle, thereby gaining additional solar radiation during the winter when such energy is at a premium. Some years, lupine begins to flower in January. Attractive to bumble bees and digger bees, these flowers peak in color and fragrance from mid-March through mid-April, on alluvial fans, washes, and canyons below 2,300 feet.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988". Direct sowing/ Scarify seed and/or soak in hot water 4-8 hours/Time of planting: autumn.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".

  Larrea tridentata  (creosotebush) (gobernadora ) Zygophillaceae These strong-scented, resinous shrubs form extensive stands throughout the warm deserts of the Americas. Although the yellow, five-petalled flowers are small, they offer color where drought eliminates other hues. The 5, 000-500, 000 flowers produces by a single creosotebush in an average year attracts bees, wasps and flies. Petals twist 90 degrees if they've been pollinated. Sonoran Desert creosote blooms peak in March and April, and enlargement is triggered by a drenching rain following a drought, but flowering itself does not occur until the soil begins to dry out again. The bush is found on flats, bajadas, and hills below 4,500 feet.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988". Direct sowing/Hull seeds or sand off one end; soak 4-9 hours in deionized water/Time of planting: anytime.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".

  Justicia californica  (Brown-eyed primrose) ( ) Acanthaceae This sprawling, pale-stemmed shrub produces enough red flowers early in the spring to cause territorial battles among Anna's, Costa's, and black-chinned hummingbirds. The tubular flowers bloom profusely, and tide most hummers over in the winter until other plants begin to bloom. Frequenting the sand and gravel washes skirting low desert mountain ranges, chuparosa always grows below 2,500 feet. Its bloom time extends from late August through June, depending upon the locality.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".

    Chaenactis stevioides  (desert pincushion) ( ) Asteraceae This annual differs from the related Fremont's pincushion by its cream or yellow (rather than white) flowers and by having hairy, flattened leaves rather than glabrous, fleshy ones. It is a common component of wildflower mixtures on desert plains and broad washes, blooming from mid-February to the end of April. Its densities can vary fiftyfold on the same spot, between wet and dry years. Although short-statured, pincushion plants sprinkle much color into desert grassland and chaparral openings, peaking around early March in the low desert and later at higher elevations.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".  Direct sowing/ No treatment needed/Time of planting: autumn.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".

    Calliandra eriophylla  (fairyduster) ( ) Fabaceae This small shrub has clustered rose colored flowers with numerous stamens that protrude like brushes beyond the length of the blossoms themselves. The stamens hold packages of pollen called polyads, each with a sticky place for attaching onto pollinators. These flowers are set in lacy, acacia-like foliage, with five to 15 pairs of leaflets. Flowering from October through April and peaking near the end of March, fairydusters can be found from rocky hillsides and canyon walls to the banks of arroyos. Butterflies, bees, and perhaps some hummingbirds are its pollinators. They are often the only winter-blooming shrubs on the desert mountain slopes.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988" Direct sowing; seed in pots for transplanting/ soak in hot water/Time of planting: anytime.  "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988".