Desert Wildflowers New Mexico

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We'd like to see your pictures too. E-mail your digtial photos and reports to Jim@desertusa.com. Use Wildflower Report as the subject of your e-mail. Let us know where you took the photo and the date.

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Jan 23, 2012 Liz reports: The plants that he took pictures of are Tripterocalyx carneus (Nyctaginaceae), the winged sandpuff. They are easily identified to genus by their three-winged anthocarp. They are common in sandy washes, even at high elevation.

Based on geography, I believe Galloway would call this T. wootonii, but I agree with Rich Spellenberg's treatment in the Intermountain Flora that this is T. carneus var. carneus.

Oct 14, 2011 Tim reports: I took the area shot yesterday 10/13 and the others last week, 10/4. I live in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, a little over 6000 feet in altitude, and I found these flowers when I drove my truck up a nearby arroyo for the first time last week.

After wending my way in along the meandering sand wash and squeezing around a few fallen rocks, the arroyo opened out for a stretch, and there was no missing these amazing flowers!

They are low-growing, with pale, jointed stems that branch frequently, and grow down near the floor of the wash, in a slightly higher and therefore less exposed spot than a big stand of Rocky Mountain beeplant nearby. I only saw three of these plants in the arroyo, and I've never seen them anywhere else, though maybe I just haven't noticed them. They are very striking, and when mature, the blossoms become papery, and eventually blow apart in three-winged sections to distribute the seeds.

I couldn't find them in your desert flowers guide; it looks like maybe you don't come up to this altitude. These things look like they belong on a beach, but I guess that's where they are, as far as deserts go! Updated Sept, 2011 No reports from this area.

When will the desert wildflowers bloom? We start our report in January, plan your visit to coincide with the peak of the bloom - keep up to date with DesertUSA's Wildflower Reports. Be sure to bookmark this page for weekly updates.

We'd like to see your pictures too. E-mail your digtial photos and reports to Jim@desertusa.com. Use Wildflower Report as the subject of your e-mail. Let us know where you took the photo and the date. We will post them on our wildflower reports. Thanks for your support and photos.

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.

Photos 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...

 

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