WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With delicate, leafy stems 20–40-inches long, from hairy to smooth, this spreading to prostrate plant forms dense mats dotted with small but showy orange-yellow flowers. Note the hairy sepals cupping the petals, and the beak longer than the fruiting body.

FLOWERS: April–November. The 3/8–1-inch wide (10–25 mm) flowers on hairy stems (peduncles) have 5 orange petals with a reddish tint or lines around the base. Petals tips are rounded with slight scalloping. 5 orange stamens surround an elongated style. The seeds form in a bundle surrounded by hairy sepals, then separate when mature. The fruiting body has a 1/4–1/2-inch long (6–12 mm) beak. The common name “warty” refers to the seeds.

LEAVES: Opposite. Blades pinnately compound, about 2 1/4-inches long (5.7 cm), with 3–5 pairs of oval to elliptical leaflets along the midrib, margins lined with long hairs, tips pointed.

HABITAT: Open sandy, gravelly soils of roadsides, disturbed areas; desert grassland, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,600–7,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, NE, NM, NV, OK, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The look-alike California Caltrop, K. californica, widespread in so. NM and scattered through the ne, has 1/2-inch-wide (12 mm) yellow flowers and no hairy sepals around the mature fruiting capsule. Orange Caltrop, K. grandiflora (see photo), in sw NM, has 1–2-inch wide (25–50 mm) flowers with a deep-red center. Hairy Caltrop, K. hirsutissima, in se NM, has 1/4-inch-wide (6 mm) yellow flowers and a beak surrounded by hairy sepals. The malicious Goathead, Tribulus terrestris, in disturbed areas statewide, has yellow flowers and hard, nutlet seeds with vicious spines that pierce skin, clothes, and bike tires.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide (not reported in Lea, McKinley, Mora, Union cos.) in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats.