WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Numerous slender, leafy stems to 12-inches tall from a woody base are tipped with loose clusters of showy, yellow flowers. Note the narrow leaves, red buds, the stigma and yellow anthers extend beyond the throat, and the twin, spherical fruit capsules.

FLOWERS: March–September. Yellow, funnel-shaped flowers to 3/8-inch long (1 cm), with 5 petal-like lobes, oblong, pointed, spreading open 3/8–1-inch wide (10–24 mm); sepals (calyx) cup the flower and fruit with 7–11 narrow, thread-like lobes. Fruit is distinctive paired, spherical capsules, 1/4-inch diameter (6 mm), green turning red.

LEAVES: Opposite on lower stem, alternate above. Blades linear, elliptic, oval, to lance-shaped, 1/4–1-inch long (6–25 mm) by 1/16–3/16-inch wide (2–5 mm), margins entire, tip pointed.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, rocky hills, roadsides; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-oak forests.

ELEVATION: 3,200–7,800 feet.

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

SIMILAR SPECIES: Showy Menodora, M. longiflora, in the southern half of NM, reaches 3-feet tall and has a floral tube 1–2-inches long (2.5–5 cm) with the stamens inside the throat.

NM COUNTIES: Western 2/3 of NM in low- to mid-elevation arid habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance.