Chinese Parsley
Heliotropium curassavicum
Color: White
Common name: Chinese Parsley, Heliotrope
Latin name: Heliotropium curassavicum
Family: BORAGINACEAE
Height: 4-24 inches
Description: The stem is prostrate to weakly ascending, 1–6 dm, fleshy, without hairs. The flowers grows in spikes 2–4, at the tip of the inflorescence and is coiled in flower
Leaf: The 1–6 cm leaf has a short tapered sharp to blunt tip, is thick and juicy (succulent) and without hairs.
Range: Desert Mountains, Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, California
Habitat: Moist to dry, saline soils
Elevation: < 2100 m.
Flowering time: Mar–Oct
Notes: Heliotropium curassavicum, a dicot, is a perennial herb that is native to California and is also found outside of California, but is confined to western North America. This photo was taken in the salt flats near Newberry Springs, San Bernardino County, on California April 6, 2007.
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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