WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

This low-climbing vine twines through vegetation and over rocks and bushes. After the flowers fade, the seeds develop a bushy bundle of long, silky tails, like small feather dusters. Note the delicate, pale blue, nodding flowers.

FLOWERS: May–July. Blue, purple, pink, rarely white, bell-shaped with 4 tissue-like, petals (sepals), 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm) long, not united, slightly hairy, solitary and nodding on the stems.

LEAVES: Opposite. Blade compound  with 2–3 lance-shaped leaflets, 5/8–2-inches (15–48 mm) wide by 3/8–1 3/8-inches (8–35 mm) wide, that radiate from common point on stem, each leaflet deeply divided 2–3 times lobed with pointed teeth on margins.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, loam soils, moist slopes, open woods, stream banks; pinyon-juniper-oak, ponderosa-fir, aspen-spruce, forests.

ELEVATION: 5,600-10,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, ND, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The blue, bell-shaped flowers with thin, petal-like sepals help distinguish this species from other vines.

NM COUNTIES: Central and western NM mountains in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, Sandoval, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union.