Gilia ophthalmoides

Eyed gilia, yellow-eyed gilia, Yellow-Eyed Gilia

Family: Polemoniaceae · Type: annual · Native

Eyed gilia is a California native annual found in northern Mojave Desert Mountains, White and Inyo Mountains in open, rocky pinyon and juniper woodland at elevations of 1,100 to 2,600 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces delicate purple and bright yellow flowers with pink corolla lobes approximately 7 to 12 millimeters long. Growing with branching stems 15 to 30 centimeters tall, densely covered in woolly hairs below the middle and becoming glandular toward the upper portions. Its lower leaves form a dense rosette, intricately divided into 1 to 2 pinnate lobes with spreading, toothed linear axes. The small ovoid fruits measure 4 to 6.5 millimeters long and typically remain shorter than the plant's calyx.

Habitat: Open, rocky soil, generally pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 1100-2600 m

Bioregions: n SNE, W&ampI, DMtns

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, Mono, Lassen, San Diego, Riverside

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