Thursday, May 13, 2010

Mojave Desertstar

Mojave desertstar or desert star (Monoptilon bellioides)
is a small flower in the sunflower family
that grows in dry, sunny, open, bare areas. It only gets two inches tall.
The flower heads can get to 3/4" across
and have from 9 to 20 elongated white (or pale pink) rays and yellow disks.
The flowers are often larger than the rest of the plant
and open in the morning and close at night. The leaves are green, short, narrow and hairy and tend to be bunched under the flowers.
Reddish stems spread along the ground to about 10 inches. In years with good winter rains it can carpet patches of the ground. It is found in Southern California, Nevada, south and western Arizona and northwestern Mexico. These flowers were found on the bajada south of the Eagle Mountains off the Hayfield Road exit of the I-10 in southern Joshua Tree National Park.

No comments:

Post a Comment