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 Leaves C. Roll Usage Rights: Public Domain (CC0 1.0) |  Plant Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | | |
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Origin:
Native
Life Cycle:
Perennial Similar Species: Houstonia wrightii
General Desc:
Low-growing rounded perennial with a woody taproot; forms small dense clumps; flowers are 4-petaled and barely pop up above the foliage.
Identification notes: Low-growing plant forming small clumps, linear leaves, showy pink and white 4-petaled flowers just above the foliage. Distinguished from H. wrightii>/i> by its strongly ascending (upward-pointing) leaves and flowers being solitary in the nodes.
Height:
3/4 inch to 4 inches
Habitat Description: Mesas, dry rocky hills, desert washes and areas of sandy soil. Found in pinyon-juniper woodland, rocky and sandy grasslands.
Plant Communities:
Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland
Elevation: 4000 - 6000 feet
Color:
Pink, purplish, reddish, rose or white
Shape:
Regular not in clusters
Tubular:
Y
Flowering Period:
Apr - Aug
Description:
Slender, usually pink, tubular flower 1/2 inch wide to 1 inch long which widens and flattens at the top into 4 spreading 1/4 inch petals.
Leaf Color:
Grayish-green
Leaf Type:
Simple
Leaf Shape:
Narrow
Leaf Margin:
Smooth
Leaf Attachment:
Opposite
Leaves Clasp:
N
Hairs:
No
Spines:
N
Leaf Description:
Linear, thick leaves to 1 inch long that curl backward at the margins, densely packed on very short spreading stems.
Fruit Color: Black
Fruit Type: Capsule
Fruit Notes: Fruit is a 2-chambered capsule, shaped like 2 spheres glued together side-by-side with thick walls 1/16 to 1/8 inch long and 1/16 to 1/4 inch wide.
Seed Notes: The capsule splits open to release several black saucer-shaped seeds that curve inward.
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