WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

The single erect stem of this sand-loving plant reaches 4–36-inches tall with branches from the lower half of the stem. Bristly-hairs cover the lower stem and black, sticky, glandular hairs, often covered with sand, cover the upper branches. Note the pink, petal-like rays with 3 deep lobes, and the disk flowers with 5 small, spreading pink lobes, dark stamens, and curly, pink stigma lobes.

FLOWER: May–November. Pink, 1–1 1/2-inch wide (2.5–3.8 cm) flower heads have 3–5 petal-like ray flowers, each 3/8-inch long (8 mm) or shorter, with 3 deep lobes cut almost to the base; disk flowers have 5  small, spreading pink lobes, dark stamens, and curly pink stigma lobes. Flowers fade to white.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades hairy, narrow, lance-shaped, 1–3 1/2-inches long (2.5–9 cm). 

HABITAT: Dry sandy hills and dunes, roadsides, disturbed areas; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,300–6,000 feet.

RANGE: CO, KS, OK, NE, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 2 species of Palafoxia in NM. Rosy Paloxoxia, P. rosea, in the easternmost counties, has a rounded sphere of pink disk flowers only.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide in all but the westernmost counties in low-elevation, sandy, arid habitats: Bernalillo, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Guadalupe, Harding, Lea, Lincoln, McKinley, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Miguel, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, Union, Valencia.