WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With spreading, prostrate stems that reach 6–12-inches tall, this low plant decorates open, grassy areas with pink to lavender flowers. Note  the flower tube barely extends beyond the sepals, and the whole plant is covered with glandular hairs.

FLOWER: February–April. The small, tubular flowers have 5 equal-sized,  notched petals, each 1/8–1/4-inch wide (3–6 mm), in a crowded cluster on the stem tips. The floral tube is only slightly longer than the green sepals. The flower head elongates into a 1 1/2–1 3/4-inch long (3.8–4.45 cm) spike when in fruit.

LEAVES: Opposite. Blades oval to triangular or fan-shaped, 3/4–1 1/4-inches long (20–32 mm), with margins divided into short lobes.

HABITAT: Rocky, sandy soils of plains, grasslands, open areas, roadsides; prairies, desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,400–7,200 feet.

RANGE: NM, OK, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Dakota Vervain, G. bipinnatifida, nearly statewide, has rounded clusters of 3/8-inch wide (10 mm), purple to pink flowers and leaves twice divided into long, slender lobes, and foliage hairs without glands.

NM COUNTIES: Southern NM, esp. Guadalupe Mts., and Union Co. in low- to mid-elevation habitats; Chaves, Eddy, Lea, Union.