WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Clusters of softly hairy stems to 20-inches tall are tipped with spikes of showy red flowers. Note the tubular flowers and the pinnately compound leaves with paired leaflets along the midrib. Like all members of the mint family, the stems are square.

FLOWERS: April–May. Scarlet, hairy, tubular flowers 1 1/8–1 1/2-inches long (3–4 cm) bloom in pairs at nodes along upper stem; stamens extend beyond upper lip, lower lip is equal or shorter than upper lip and has 2 small side lobes and a larger middle lobe.

LEAVES: Opposite. Pinnately compound with 3–5 leaflets that are oval with irregular teeth, or angular lobes; surfaces hairy.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, rocky areas; desert canyons, cliffs, slopes.

ELEVATION: 5,000–7,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 12 species of Salvia in NM, 2 with red flowers. S. summa, in southern NM, has leaves with paired lobes (not leaflets) and the lower flower lobe greatly exceeds the upper.  Scarlet Hedgenettle, Stachys coccinea, in much the same range, has oval to triangular leaves. Red penstemons are in the Plantaginaceae Family with round, not square, stems.

NM COUNTIES: Rocky habitats in southern and central NM: Cibola, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Valencia.