Hairy Flax, Plains Flax
Linum puberulum
Color: Yellow to orange
Common name: Hairy Flax, Plains Flax
Latin name: Linum puberulum
Family: LINACEAE
Height: 3-12 inches
Description: It is a downy-haired herb producing an erect, branching stem with a wide open cyme of golden yellow to yellow-orange flowers each with five petals 1-1.5 centimeters in length. The fruit is a capsule about 4 millimeters wide.
Leaf: The glandular, linear leaves are up to about 1 centimeter long.
Range: e Desert Mountains
Habitat: Dry ridges
Elevation: 1000–2500 m.
Flowering time: May–Jul
Notes: Native Americans used Linum puberulum berries as an eyewash. L. puberulum, a dicot, is an annual herb that is native to California and is also found outside of California, but is confined to western North America. It is included in the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants on list 2.3 (rare, threatened, or endangered in CA; common elsewhere). Distribution outside California: to Colorado, Texas. This plant was photographed along Ivanpah Road, Mojave National Preserve, San Bernardino County, California.
We have an online wildflower field guide that is designed to help you identify desert wildflowers by color, scientific name, region and common name. The pictures are sized to work on the iPod, iPhone, iPad and similar devices. With your iPod or phone you will easily be able to identify wildflowers while in the desert. Links for downloads are on the bottom of the Wildflower Field Guide page.
Photo tips: Most digital point-and-shoot cameras have a macro function - usually symbolized by the icon of a little flower. When you turn on that function, you allow your camera to get closer to the subject, looking into a flower for example. Or getting up close and personal with a bug. More on desert photography.
Mojave Desert Wildflowers - This book is the standard by which all other wildflower books are measured. The author, Jon Mark Stewart, has combined super photography with concise information. This book has an entire color page for each wildflower covered, with a discussion of the wildflower. 210 pages with 200 color photos. More...
What's Blooming Now - Check the Wildflower Reports
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