Scientific Family
Nyctaginaceae
Plant type
Forbs and Subshrubs
Origin
Native
Lifecycle
Annual
Similar species
Boerhavia wrightii
Height
Up to 2 feet
Riparian
No
Annual herb up to 2 feet tall, from a soft or woody taproot; stems erect or ascending, unbranched on small plants and branched 1 to 4 times throughout on larger plants; covered with short, soft, gland-tipped hairs.
Annual; flowers in compact heads on densely hairy, glandular, sticky towards the tip branches; petals absent; flower bracts petal-like fused into funnel-shape, whitish to pale pink or purple; fruits 5-ribbed, rarely hairy, ribs angled, may be wing-like.
Habitat
Found on limestone or sandy soils, in open arid grasslands, or among shrubs, oaks, pinyon pines, chapparal, or junipers.
Plant Community
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Desert Scrub
Low elevation
700
High elevation
6000
Flower Characteristics
Small dense clusters at branch tips, arranged on 1 to 4 unequally branched stems, covered with gland-tipped hairs; petal-like sepals 1/8 to 3/16 inch long, fused into a funnel-shape, whitish to pale pink or purple; petals absent.
Flower color
Whitish to pale pink or purple
Flower shape
Regular
Tubular
No
First bloom month
July
Last bloom month
September
Flower clusters
Elongated
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaf stems 1/16 to 3/4 inch long; blades oval to lance-like, 3/8 to 1-1/2 inches long, 3/16 to 3/4 inch wide, with wavy or curled margins; upper surfaces usually studded with dark cells, especially leaves near base; leaf undersides usually paler.
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf color
Green
Leaf shape
Round or oval
Leaf margin
Lobed
Leaves clasp
No
Leaf hairs
Leaves & stems
Spines
No
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Achenes in clusters of 3 to 9, 1/16 to 1/8 inch long and 1/16 inch wide, broadly oval with a round blunt tip and 5 smooth longitudinal ribs. Straw-colored (yellowish-brown) or grayish-tan (light brown).
Fruit type
Achene
Fruit color
Yellowish-brown, grayish-brown