WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Hairy, leafy stems reach 28-inches tall. Note the irregularly lobed leaves and small, bell-shaped, white flowers crowded along one side of a bloom stem with the tip hooked like a scorpion’s tail.

FLOWERS: May–September. Petals white to pale bluish, bell-shaped, 1/8–3/16-inch long (3–4 cm); stamens extend 2–4 cm beyond petals, filaments white, style equal or longer that stamens.

LEAVES: Basal; alternate on stem. Blades  3/4–4 inches long (2–10 cm), 3/4–3 inches wide (2–8 cm), irregularly lobed to twice-pinnate. Surfaces hairy, may be glandular.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, loam soils, open brush and woodlands, meadows, roadsides, riparian areas; sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine-Douglas fir, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 6,100–12,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, UT, NM, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: New Mexico Scorpionweed, P. neomexicana, widespread in much the same habitat, has blue to white flowers, hairy petals, bluish filaments, and the style is equal or shorter than the stamens.

NM COUNTIES: The western 2/3rds of NM in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Taos, Valencia.