WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

This 1–2-foot tall, bushy plant has white to yellowish-white branching stems with sandpapery, barb-covered leaves that adhere to clothing. The orange-yellow flowers have 5 true petals and open in the early morning and close by mid-day.

FLOWER: April–October. Usually single in upper leaf axils, the 1/2–3/4-inch wide (12–19 mm) flowers have 5 oval, orange-yellow petals, to 3/8-inch (10 mm) long, with pointed tips. Flowers bloom atop a hairy, cylindrical calyx tube with 5 pointed tapering lobes 1/4–3/8-inch (3–10 mm) long that extend between the petals. The cylindrical to club-shaped (tip slightly enlarged) seed capsule reaches 1/2-inch (12 mm) long with 5 tiny spikes on the end with 1–4 tiny seeds without wings (use lens).

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades three-lobed to oval, 1/2–1-inch (12–25 mm) long, with flat to rounded bases, pointed tips, and margins with irregular, forward-pointing, toothed lobes. The Velcro-like hairs will bond permanently with clothing.

HABITAT: Sandy, rocky soils; plains, desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,800–6,400 feet.

RANGE: AR, AZ, CO, IL, KS, MA, MO, NE, NM, OK , SD , TX , WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: NM has 17 species of stickleaf, most yellow and with limited distribution. The orange-yellow flowers with 5 petals and large, triangular, lobed leaves help distinguish this species. Whitestem Blazingstar, M. albicaulis, in the western half of NM, has 5 yellow petals, but the stem leaves are linear and 3/4–4 3/4-inches long (2–12 cm).

NM COUNTIES: Widespread in the central and se half of NM in mid- to low-elevation, dry habitats: Chaves, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Harding, Lincoln, Luna, Mora, Quay, Roosevelt, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance.