WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With white to pink flowers, the slender, densely hairy, branching stems reach 6 feet long and twine around weeds, grass, and over rocks and low shrubs. Note the densely hairy leaves and warty sepals.

FLOWER: March–November. Flower funnel-shaped, 3/4–1 1/2-inches wide (20–38 m), with 5 fused petals with 5 sharp points or tiny projections, white to pink, sometimes a purple-red throat; sepals hairy, bracts scale-like.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades 1–3-inches long, variable in shape from oblong to narrowly lance-shaped; margins toothed or with with projecting, arrowhead-like basal lobes; surfaces densely covered with matted hairs.

HABITAT: Dry sandy, rocky soils of hills, plains, canyons, roadsides, disturbed areas; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 2,500–6,500 feet.

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

SIMILAR SPECIES: The introduced and noxious Field Bindweed, C. arvensis, statewide, forms large patches and has funnel-shaped flowers without points, and hairless, oval leaves. The white-flowered morning glory Spiderleaf, Ipomoea tenuiloba, in southern NM, has leaves with filament-like lobes and warty sepals.

NM COUNTIES: Low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: statewide except for north-central mountains (Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, Taos, Torrance, Valencia).