Gilia inconspicua

Shy gilia

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Shy gilia is a California native annual found in the Great Basin in rocky or sandy sagebrush slopes and washes at elevations of 1,200 to 2,300 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces lavender flowers with a purple spot at the base or in the throat, approximately 6 to 11 millimeters long. Growing with ascending or spreading stems 8 to 32 centimeters tall, it forms tufted clusters with branches that are woolly-hairy below the flower cluster and black-glandular above. Its basal leaves form a rosette with 1-pinnate lobes 2 to 10 millimeters long, linear or rounded, and tufted-woolly hairy. The fruit is an oblong-ovoid capsule 5 to 8 millimeters long with detaching seed valves.

Habitat: Rocky or sandy sagebrush slopes, washes

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 1200-2300 m

Bioregions: GB

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.