WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Stalks to 10-inches tall bear flowers with three delicate petals nestled in a purse-like sack (spathe) that open in the morning and fade by afternoon. Note that the flowers bloom one at a time in the spathe and the petals are all identical, but the top 3 stamens differ from the bottom 3.

FLOWERS: July-September. Flowers have 3 spade-shaped, bright blue petals, and 6 stamens. The 3 showy, upper stamens have lobed “dummy anthers” colored yellow to mimic large amounts of pollen but produce very little. The 3 lower stamens have unlobed , oval anthers with abundant yellow pollen for pollinators. The spathe, with a long, leaf-like tapered tip, usually has reddish stripes.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blade 1 1/2-6 inches long (4-15 cm), linear, narrow, sheathed around stem.

HABITAT: Gravelly, granite soils, open meadows; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 3,700-10,250 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Dayflower, C. erecta , common in eastern and southern NM, has two blue petals and one smaller white petal. Western Spiderwort, Tradescantha occidentalis, has flowers with 3 blue petals and hairy stamen filaments, and blooms  in a cluster without a spathe.

NM COUNTIES: Western two-thirds of NM in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Colfax, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, McKinley, Moro, Otero, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance.