WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Sprawling with numerous branches, this densely hairy, sticky plant seldom exceeds 4–12-inches high, 12-inches wide. Note the disk-like, creamy-white flowers with a greenish, 5 pointed star in the center, and leaf margins with numerous irregular, wrinkled lobes. Chamaesaracha species share the common names Five Eyes and False Nightshade. Stem and leaf hair features (glandular-sticky or not, branched or not) are often necessary for accurate ID (use lens).

FLOWER: March–November. The 1–2 stalked, bell-shaped flowers 1/2-inch wide (12 mm) grow from the leaf axils. The 5-lobed petals form a pentagon to rounded disk, creamy-white with 5 darker bands radiating from the center. The fruit matures to a 1/4-3/8-inch (6–10 mm) berry in a tight sheath.

LEAVES: Alternate, short-stalked. Blades gray-green, lance-shaped to elliptic in outline, 1–2 1/2-inches long (25–64 mm), 1/4–3/4-inch wide (6–20 mm); margins with numerous irregular, wrinkled lobes. The leaves of this species are covered with unbranched hairs without sticky glands (use lens).

HABITAT: Sandy, rocky soils, fields, roadsides, disturbed areas; eastern plains, desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,800–6,500 feet.

RANGE: CO , KS , NM , OK , TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 5 species in NM. Hairy False Nightshade, C. sordida, in the same range, is densely covered with unbranched, sticky-glandular hairs and has wrinkled leaves without lobes. Greenleaf False Nightshade, C. coronopus, has linear-shaped, lobed leaves sparsely covered with branched hairs without sticky glands. Plateau False Nighshade, C. edwardsiana, in the Guadalupe Mountains of Eddy County, has smooth leaves.

NM COUNTIES: Common from ne to sw NM in mid- to low-elevation, arid habitats: Chaves, Curry, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Harding, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, Roosevelt, San Miguel, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, Quay, Union.