Color: Yellow
Common name: Mojave sun cup
Latin name: Camissonia campestris ssp. campestris
Family: ONAGRACEAE
Height: 2-10 inches tall.
Description: Slender with somewhat curving hairless stems decumbent or erect, inflorescence nodding. Four petals (3.5)5–15 mm, yellow fading reddish, base with (1)2 red dots; stigma exceeding anthers.
Leaf: Alternate 5–30 mm, linear to narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblanceolate, minutely to coarsely toothed.
Range: Sierra Nevada Foothills, Great Central Valley, Central Western California, e Southwestern California, Mojave Desert
Habitat: Open sandy flats, desert scrub, noncoastal grasslands.
Elevation: 0–2000 m.
Flowering time: Mar-May
Notes: Photographed March 24, 2007, Sand Ridge Preserve, Kern County, Calif., April 12, 2008 Short Canyon, Kern County, Calif. A dicot, is an annual herb that is native to California and is endemic (limited) to California alone.
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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