WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Spreading by rhizomes, these dainty plants with 4–8-inch tall leafless stems can cover a hillside or rocky outcrop with clusters of showy magenta flowers with lemon-yellow centers. Note the basal leaves are lined with small teeth.

FLOWERS: May–September. Blooming on a scape (leafless stem) 6–10-inches long in clusters with 4–12 flowers, the 3/8–3/4-inch (1–2 cm) wide flowers have 5 notched petals varying from rose to deep magenta or blue to purple, with bright yellow throats.

LEAVES: Basal. Lance- to spatula-shaped, 1 1/2–6-inches (4–15 cm) long, 3/8–3/4-inch (1–2 cm) wide, thick, margins with evenly spaced, fine, shallow teeth. The bracts (calyx) beneath each flower are green to brown, sharp pointed, surrounded by white wool.

HABITAT: Shady, gravelly loam, granite, limestone, rock ledges, vertical cliffs, alpine meadows; Douglas fir-ponderosa pine, aspen forests.

ELEVATION: 6,700–11,800 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Ellis’s Primrose (formerly separated as Primula ellisiae) in the Sandia Mountains has a flowering scape (stem) about equal to the leaf length. Perry’s Primrose, P. parryi, in wet soils of northern NM mountains, has scapes 10–15-inches tall and usually leaves without teeth. Alpine Primrose, P. angustifolia, a clump-forming plant above timeberline, has scapes 2-inches tall with only 1–2 flowers.

NM COUNTIES: NM mountains in mid- to high-elevation, moist habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Grant, Lincoln, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro.