WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Branching from a woody crown with 5–12 spreading to erect, 6-inch tall stems, this plant has 1–3 bright blue flowers at the branch tips. Note the yellow anthers and small, needle-like leaves.

FLOWERS: May–September. Flowers 3/4-inch wide (20 mm) with 5 blue petals, each to 3/8-inch long (1 cm), oval with rounded to pointed tips; throat greenish-white, 5 stamens with bright-yellow anthers.

LEAVES: Alternate. Lower leaves deeply pinnate with narrow lobes along midrib, upper leaves palmate with clusters of 3–5 needle-like lobes to 5/8-inch long (15 mm).

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, gypsum, limestone soils, rocky hills and plains; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,400–6,400 feet.

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

SIMILAR SPECIES: A look-alike Bluebowls, G. rigidulum, scattered statewide in similar habitats, has lower leaves with some oblong (not needle-like) segments.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide in mid-elevation arid habitats: Bernalillo, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Otero, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, Union, Valencia.