WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Blue, funnel-shaped flowers drape across the shrubs and boulders that this twining, low-climbing vine grows into. Note the blue flowers with yellowish-white throats and heart-shaped leaves.

FLOWERS: August–October. Clusters of 1–2 flowers grow on stems (peduncles) 5/8–1 3/4-inches long (1.5–4.5 cm); floral tube 3/4–1 1/8-inches long (2–3 cm) and opening 1 3/8-inches wide (3.5 cm); sepals lance-shaped with slender points, surfaces rough.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blade with heart-shaped base, 3/4–2 3/8-inches long (2–6 cm) and 5/8–1 1/2-inches wide (1.4–3.8 cm), surfaces hairless.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, canyons, rocky slopes; desert grasslands and scrub.

ELEVATION: 3,700–8,500 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The blue flowers, heart-shaped leaves and wrinkled-roughened, lance-shaped sepals distinguish this species. The uncommon Railway Creeper, I. dumetorum, with a similar range, has tapering, arrow-shaped leaves and oval, not slender, tapering, sepals.

NM COUNTIES: SW desert and mountains in low- to mid-elevation arid habitats: Dona Ana, Hidalgo, Grant, Lincoln, Otero.