WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Erect, slender stems, hairy and usually unbranched, reach 4–33-inches tall. Note the 3–12 pairs of tubular, white to pink flowers at spaced nodes on the stem with petals deeply cut into 2–4 narrow lobes.

FLOWERS: May–September. Stems with a loose spike with 3–7 nodes, each with paired flowers in subsp. pringlei, widespread in Arizona and NM. Tubular to bell-shaped flowers have 5 petals, each divided into 2 fork-like lobes, with a fringe of tiny petal-like appendages around the throat; 10 stamens extend beyond the throat, note there are only 3 styles; the calyx (holding the petals) is bell-shaped to tubular, 3/8–1/2-inch long (8–13 mm), densely hairy with 10 prominent ribs or veins. Flowers bloom from the bottom up the stem.

LEAVES: Opposite, 1 pair per node. Stem leaves narrow, lance-shaped to oval, 2 3/8–10-inches long (6–25 cm); margins entire, surfaces hairy on both sides.

HABITAT: Rocky, gravel-loam soils, roadsides; pinyon-juniper-oak, ponderosa-Douglas fir, spruce-fir aspen forests, subalpine meadows.

ELEVATION: 6,000–11,600 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The 2 subspecies in NM have slightly different flower features: The widespread subsp. pringlei has nodding flowers with a tubular calyx (beneath the petals) and 3–12 flowering nodes per stem. The Rocky Mountain subsp. hallii has erect flowers with a bell-shaped to tubular calyx and 3–8 flowering nodes. Drummond’s Catchfly, S. drummondii, in much the same range and habitat, has petals with 2 lobes that barely extend beyond the calyx, and 4–5 styles inside the throat with the stamens; flowers bloom from the top downward. The widespread Sleepy Catchfly, S. antirrhina, has small flowers with pink to white petals with two notches, and reddish, sticky internodes. The introduced White Campion, S. latifolia, in northern NM, has a noticeably inflated calyx beneath deeply notched petals.

NM COUNTIES: Statewide at mid- to high-elevation mountain habitats (absent on eastern plains): Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance.