WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With a dense cluster of long, deeply-cut leaves, this prostrate plant is easily mistaken for a fern until it sends up a 6-inch-tall stalk with a crowded cluster of tubular, white flowers with pinkish-purple tips. Though able to photosynthesize their own nutrients, louseworts are parasitic on roots of nearby plants.

FLOWERS: March–June. Short spikes 1 1/2–2 3/4-inches tall (4–7 cm) from ground level have a dense cluster of tubular flowers 1 3/8-inches long (35 mm); a curved hood encloses 4 stamens and the lower lip has 3 rounded lobes. The calyx cupping the petals and the faded petals are pinkish-purple.

LEAVES: Alternate on the short stem. Blades linear, 2 3/8–6-inches (6–15 cm) long, with deeply cut fern-like segments with crinkly teeth along a purplish midrib.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, open to shaded areas; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-Douglas fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,200–10,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, NV, OR, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 10 louseworts in NM. The prostrate form and hooded, tubular flowers help distinguish this species.

NM COUNTIES: Mountains in western half of NM in mid- to high-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Dona Ana, Grant, McKinley, Rio Arriba, San Juan, Santa Fe, Sandoval, Socorro, Taos, Torrance.