WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Pinch this 8–24-inch tall plant covered with sticky hairs and it strikes back with a foul-smelling odor. Note the round cluster of flowers with long, pompom-like purple filaments and the slender upright pods.

FLOWER: May–October. Dense clusters of unusual flowers have small, white to pinkish petals, 1/4–3/8-inch (5–10 mm) long, with bundles of 10–20 purple stamens with filaments that extend 1 inch (25 mm) beyond the petals. Tiny bees pollinate the flower by dangling on the anthers while the long filaments whip back and forth under their weight. As the flowers mature, rows of 1 1/2–2 3/4-inch long pods stand upright around the stem.

LEAVES: Alternate. Leaves palmately divided (like fingers on a hand) into 3 elliptic, pointed leaflets 3/4–2-inches long (19–50 mm); foliage covered with sticky (clammy), smelly, glandular hairs.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, drainages, roadsides, disturbed areas; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,200–7,000 feet.

RANGE: Widespread across North America.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The perennial Mexican Clammyweed, P. uniglandulosa, in the southern half of NM, has twice as large petals, 3/8–3/4-inch (10–20 mm) long, and stamens to 2-inches long (50 mm).

NM COUNTIES: Widespread nearly statewide in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Torrance, Union, Valencia.