Desert Wildflowers
What's Blooming - Wildflower Reports
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The Desert in Bloom -- When conditions are right, the desert can burst into bloom, creating a lush landscape where it seemed nothing could grow. Desert wildflowers take advantage of late fall and early winter storms by developing and spreading their seeds during winter, before the heat resumes in spring. Termed winter annuals, these plants will only germinate if there is sufficient water at the right time. The seeds are protected by a coating that must be sufficiently soaked for germination to occur. If that happens, the stalks will usually break the surface at the end of January or early February, and continue to develop for another couple of months. Flower expert Mark Wheeler explains that a late December rain with a warm soil temperature or sometimes a "March Miracle" of rainfall of two inches of rain in one event in March can also trigger a spring bloom.
Included in this list are flowering perennials, plants that survive beyond the yearly life cycle of the winter annuals. These plants take advantage of rainfall at any time of the year, and may come into bloom any time conditions are right.
DESERT WILDFLOWERS
- Alkali Mariposa Lily
- Alkali Phacelia
- Antelope Bush
- Apache Plume
- Arizona Poppy
- Asian Mustard
- Aven Nelson's Phacelia
- Beautiful Centaury (Canchalagua)
- Big Sagebrush
- Bigelow's Monkeyflower
- Bitter Root
- Blacktack Phacelia
- Bladderpod
- Blazing Star
- Blue Phacelia
- Blue Eyed Grass
- Blue Flax
- Booth's Sun Cup
- Bristly Langloisia
- Brittlebush
- Broad-Leaf Aliciella
- Broad-Leaf Gilia
- Brown-Eyed Evening Primrose
- Burrobush, Burro Weed
- Button Brittlebush
- Button Encelia
- California Buckeye
- California Fuschia
- California Milkweed
- California Poppy
- Caltha-leafed Phacelia
- Canaigre Dock
- Canterbury Bells
- Caterpillar Phacelia
- Cave Primrose
- Chaparral Mallow
- Charlotte's Phacelia
- Charming Centaury (Canchalagua)
- Checker Fiddleneck
- Cheesebush, Burrobrush
- Chia
- Chinchweed
- Chinese Parsley
- Chocolate Drops
- Chuparosa
- Cliffrose
- Clustered Broom-Rape
- Cold-desert Phlox
- Common Muilla
- Common Yellow Monkeyflower
- Cooper's Dogweed
- Coulter's Jewelflower
- Coyote Melon
- Cream Cups
- Crimson Columbine
- Crowned Muilla
- Daisy Desertstar
- Datura (POISONOUS)
- Death Valley Monkeyflower
- Desert Bitterbrush
- Desert Bluebells
- Desert Broom Rape
- Desert Candle
- Desert Chicory
- Desert Christmas Tree
- Desert Dandelion
- Desert Five-Spot
- Desert Globemallow
- Desert Holly
- Desert Indian Paintbrush
- Desert Indian Tobacco
- Desert Larkspur
- Desert Lily
- Desert Lupine
- Desert Marigold
- Desert Mariposa Lily
- Desert Milkweed
- Desert Peach
- Desert Primrose
- Desert Paintbrush
- Desert Penstemon
- Desert Pincushion
- Desert Poppy
- Desert Purple Mat
- Desert Sage
- Desert Spring Parsley
- Desert Star
- Desert Star-Vine
- Desert Sunflower
- Desert Willow
- Devil's Lettuce
- Dogbane (POISONOUS)
- Downy Dalea
- Devil’s Claw
- Dune Evening Primrose
- Dunes Sunflower
- Eaton Firecracker, Eaton Penstemon
- Fairy Duster
- Fiddleneck
- Flaxleaf Monardella
- Freckled Milkvetch
- Fremont's Monkeyflower
- Fremont's Phacelia
- Filaree Storksbill
- Fringed Amaranth
- Fringed Onion
- Ghost Flower
- Golden Desert Snapdragon
- Gooding's Verbena
- Gray Ball Sage
- Gravel Ghost
- Great Basin Woollystar
- Ground Cherry
- Hairy Wild Cabbage
- Heartleaf Sun Cup
- Hooker's Evening Primrose
- Hop Sage
- Hummingbird Trumpet
- Indian Paintbrush
- Indian Tobacco
- Jewelflower
- Jimson Weed (POISONOUS)
- Kelso Creek Monkeyflower
- Lacy Phacelia
- Layne Locoweed
- Lobeleaf Groundsel
- Loco Weed
- Mariposa Lily
- Martin's Paintbrush
- Mexican Whorled Milkweed
- Miner's Lettuce
- Mojave Aster
- Mojave Beardtongue
- Mojave Hole-in-the-Sand Plant
- Mojave Indian Paintbrush
- Mojave Indigo Bush
- Mojave Monkeyflower
- Mojave Prickly Poppy
- Mojave Sun Cup
- Narrow Leaf Milkweed
- Nevada Onion
- Notch-leaved Phacelia
- Owl's Clover (Castilleja exserta ssp. exserta)
- Pale-Yellow-Sun-Cup
- Palmer's Penstemon
- Panamint Daisy
- Panamint Mariposa Lily
- Paperbag Bush
- Parish's Monkeyflower
- Parry's Nolina (Parry's Beargrass)
- Pedicellate Phacelia
- Pink Phlox
- Plantago patagonica
- Plummer's Mariposa Lily
- Poodle Dog Bush
- Popcorn Flower
- Prickly Poppies
- Prince's Rock Cress
- Purple Mat, Purplemat
- Purple Owl's Clover (Castilleja exserta ssp. venusta)
- Purple Sand Food
- Pygmy Poppy
- Rattlesnake Weed
- Rattleweed
- Red Maids
- Rock Cress
- Rock Daisy
- Rose Heath
- Round Leafed Phacelia, Roundleaf Phacelia
- Rush Milkweed
- San Bernardino Mountains Liveforever
- Sand Blazing Star
- Sand Pygmyweed
- Sand Verbena
- Sapphire Woollystar
- Scale Bud
- Scaly-stemmed Sand Plant
- Scarlet Bugler
- Scorpionweed
- Sea Muilla
- Shockley Evening Primrose
- Showy four o'clock
- Showy Milkweed
- Silky Dalea
- Skeleton Milkweed
- Soft Prairie Clover
- Spanish Needle
- Spectacle Pod
- Specter Phacelia
- Suksdorf's Monkeyflower
- Tree Poppy
- Tree Tobacco
- Turtleback, Velvet Turtleback
- Twining Snapdragon
- Washoe Phacelia
- Western Desert Penstemon
- Western Wallflower
- Western Forget-Me-Not
- White Bear Poppy
- White Bursage
- White Fiesta Flower
- White Mallow
- White Sage
- White Wooly Daisy
- Whitemargin Beardtongue, White-margined Beardtongue
- Wild Heliotrope
- Wild Rhubarb
- Winding Mariposa Lily
- Wishbone Bush
- Woody Bottle Washer
- Woolly Daisy
- Woolly Marigold
- Yellow Beeplant
- Yellow Cups
- Yellow Desert Evening Primrose
- Yellow Nightshade
- Yellow Pincushion
- Yerba Mansa
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Wildflower Articles
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...
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