WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

As flowers go, bird’s beak will never make the dining table bouquet. The thumb-nail sized flowers never open wide. Clusters of pinkish-purple, white, or yellow flowers dot the tips of 1–2-foot tall, open branching plants. The flower shape inspired the name, Cordylanthus, Greek meaning club-like flower.

FLOWERS: July-September. The flowering spike usually has 2–10 flowers, each 1/2–1-inch long (15 to 27 mm), usually in pairs, with purplish to yellow petals. The united petals are shaped like an upturned bird’s beak with only a tiny opening, since it targets small insects for pollination.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blade narrow, 3–5 parted, 1/2–1 1/2-inches long (12–40 mm), filament-like; foliage finely hairy.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, foothills, open flats, disturbed areas; desert scrub, sagebrush, pinion-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 6,000–8,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The filament-like leaves and club-shaped flowers distinguish this flower.

NM COUNTIES: Western half of NM in low- to mid-elevation dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Dona Ana, Grant, Los Alamos, McKinley, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Socorro, Taos, Torrance.