WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

The tight clusters of succulent leaves on stems reach 4-inches tall and could be confused for Portulacas or Sedums until the blooms emerge with bright magenta flowers. Note the hairless stems, short bloom stalk, and showy, 1-inch wide flowers with pointed petals.

FLOWERS: April–September. Loose clusters of 3–5 rose to magenta flowers slightly overtop the leaves; flowers have 5 oval petals, each to 5/8-inch long (16 mm) with pointed tips, and 20 stamens with showy yellow anthers surrounding 1 stigma.

LEAVES: Opposite, crowded on stem, succulent. Blade to 1-inch long (25 mm), finger-like, thin, nearly tubular with pointed tip.

HABITAT: Dry sandy, gravelly limestone soils, ridges, slopes; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-Douglas fir woodlands.

ELEVATION: 5,700–9,000 feet.

RANGE: NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Pygmy Flameflower, P. brevifolius, in the nw quarter of NM in sandstone soils of scrub and foothills, is often mat-like with leaves to 5/8-inch long (15 mm) and rose (rarely white) flowers with bunt petals barely above the leaves. Shaggy Portulaca, Portulaca pilosa, widespread in foothills scrub, has dense hairs in the leaf nodes.

NM COUNTIES: Widespread at mid-elevation dry habitats in limestone soils: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Lincoln, Luna, McKinley, Otero, San Miguel, Sandoval,  Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance.