WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Erect to spreading, branching stems 6–20-inches tall are covered with spikes of pale to dark purple to violet, trumpet-shaped flowers. Note the purple-spotted flowers with short floral tubes, about 1/2-inch long, purple anthers, and glandular-hairy stems.

FLOWERS: July–October. Narrow, spike-like clusters densely crowded on short branch tips from the stem; trumpet-shaped flowers have floral tubes 3/16–5/8-inch (5–15 mm) long that spread into 5 lobes with purple marks and pointed tips. Stamens with style and blue anthers extend beyond the petals.

LEAVES: Alternate. Lower blades deeply pinnately divided with narrow segments; upper blades linear, narrow, entire or with few lobes.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils of grasslands, roadsides, disturbed areas; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-oak woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,500–8,500 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Iron Skyrocket; I. laxiflora, nearly statewide, has a wide-spreading, loose cluster of flowers with short tubes and hairless upper stems. The 6-inch tall Dwarf Ipomopsis, I. pumila, in much the same range and habitat, has woolly stems and leaves, and flowers with floral tubes 3/16–3/8-inch (4–8 mm) long. Pale Trumpets, I. longiflora, nearly statewide, has flower tubes 1–2-inches (25–50 mm) long tube.

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