WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

The numerous branching stems of this mounding to spreading, densely-foliated plant can cover 15 or more square-feet. Masses of pink to magenta, trumpet-like flowers open in the evening and close my mid-morning the next day. The shade-tolerant plant often covers the ground underneath juniper trees.

FLOWERS: May–October. Rounded clusters have 6 flowers, usually blooming one at a time, each 1–2 3/8-inches long (2.5–6 cm), funnel-shaped and flaring open 1 1/2-inches wide (38 mm) with 5 notched petal-like lobes; 5 stamens with showy, yellow anthers extend beyond the throat.

LEAVES: Opposite. Numerous oval to heart-shaped blades with stems (petioles) 3/4–1 1/2-inches long (2–4 cm); mid-stem blades 2–4-inches long (5–10 cm), 1 1/2–3 1/8-inches (4–8 cm) wide.

HABITAT: Sandy, rocky, clay soils, riparian, disturbed areas; desert grasslands, pinyon-juniper-ponderosa woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,800–7,700 feet.

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

SIMILAR SPECIES: The numerous flowers and mounding, spreading habit distinguish this species from other four-o’clocks.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide except eastern plains (not recorded in Chaves, Curry, De Baca, Lea cos.) in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.