WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Hairless stems 12–35-inches tall have long, fern-like leaves and a hairy, dense spike of yellow, tubular flowers. Note the flowers have arching club-like hoods and may be red-tinted, but not lined.

FLOWER: July–August. Hairy, dense spike to 18-inches long (45 cm). Flowers yellow, often red-tinted, tubular, 1-inch long (25 mm); upper lip hood-like arching above lower lip.

LEAVES: Basal with long petioles (stems), may be absent at flowering. Stem leaves alternate with short stem or sessile (no stem). Blades linear to oblong or lance-shaped, 2 3/4–6 3/8-inches long (7–16 cm); deeply cut to midrib, lobes toothed, fern-like.

HABITAT: Sandy, clay soils, streamsides, open forests, meadows; spruce-fir forests, subalpine and alpine meadows.

ELEVATION: 9,000-12,000 feet.

RANGE: CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, OR, UT, WA, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 10 louseworts in NM. Only Giant Lousewort, P. procera in the same range and habitat, has fern-like leaves and reaches 3-feet tall.

NM COUNTIES: Northern mountains of NM in high-elevation, moist habitats: Mora, Rio Arriba, Taos.