Gilia mexicana

El paso gilia

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.3

El paso gilia is a rare (CNPS 2B.3) California native annual found in chaparral and pinyon-juniper woodland in desert regions at elevations of 1,160 to 1,476 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces white flowers with pale bluish lobes and a yellow tube, small and delicate with ovate petals. Growing with slender, wavy stems 10 to 33 centimeters tall, it forms tufted clusters with grayish, woolly-hairy stems that become more glandular towards the tips. Its leaves are arranged in a basal rosette with 1 to 2 pinnate-lobed configurations, primary lobes 4.5 to 6.5 millimeters long, with proximal leaves crowded and distal leaves often reduced. The fruit is a small ovoid capsule approximately 4.5 to 5.5 millimeters long, nearly equal in length to the calyx.

Habitat: Chaparral, pinyon-juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 1160-1476 m

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