Fiddleneck
Amsinckia menziesii var. intermedia
Color: Golden yellow to orange
Common name: Fiddleneck, common fiddleneck
Latin name: Amsinckia menziesii var. intermedia
Family: BORAGINACEAE
Height: 20-60 cm.
Description: Inflorescence spike-like with coiled tip. Stiff hairs on stems and leaves. Flowers 5 petals sometimes with red/orange marks.
Leaf: Generally linear to narrowly lanceolate or oblong.
Range: California
Habitat: Open, generally disturbed places.
Elevation: < 1700 m.
Flowering time: Mar–Jun
Notes: Photographed March 30, 2019, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. An abundant, common annual whose seeds and herbage are TOXIC to livestock (especially cattle) from alkaloids and high nitrate concentrations. Sharp plant hairs irritate human skin. Distribution outside California: to British Columbia, Idaho, Arizona, Baja 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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The Desert Environment
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