Ipomopsis aggregata

PLANT: Shortlived perennial, 20-100 cm tall, simple to branched at base; stems with short glandular hairs, often with short, curly nonglandular hairs below. LEAVES: subglabrous to short-pilose, deeply lobed. INFLORESCENCE: diffuse to one-sided, with subsessile to short-pedicelled flowers on lateral branches. FLOWER: calyx 3-8 mm long, short-glandular pubescent, the lobes shorter than or equal to the tube and acuminate in AZ; corolla usually scarlet, the tube 15-30 mm long, the throat 3-6 mm wide, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate, often with dark red flecks; stamens inserted unequally above the mid-tube; filaments unequal; anthers located in the throat or exserted; stigma slightly exceeding the anthers. CAPSULE: 8-12 mm long; seeds 5-10 per locule. NOTES: Ca. 7 subspp.; w N. Amer. REFERENCES: Dieter H. Wilken and J. Mark Porter, 2005, Vascular Plants of Arizona: Polemoniaceae. CANOTIA 1: 1-37.

Wilken and Porter 2005, Jepson 2012, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous biennials to perennials, to 1 m tall, stems erect and branching from the base, herbage glabrous to glandular-hairy with short, curly, non-glandular hairs below. Leaves: Alternate, basal pinnate-9-11-lobed and 3-5 cm long, withered at flowering, cauline 5-7-lobed, reduced distally, blade lobes generally small-pointed at the tips and with glabrous to puberulent or short-pilose surfaces. Flowers: Bright red with yellow mottling on the throat, lobe, and bases, corollas with long tubes and 5 apical, flaring lobes, corolla tubes 20-30 mm long, throats 3-6 mm wide, lobes lanceolate, with acute to acuminate tips, sepals 5, fused at base, with a translucent membrane generally connecting lobes, calyxes generally bell-shaped, 3-8 mm long, with membranous tubes and sinuses, glabrous to hairy, lobes generally small-pointed at tips, stamens inserted unequally above the mid-tube, filaments unequal; anthers located in the throat or exserted, stigmas slightly exceeding the anthers, styles exserted, flowers borne in lateral, compact or diffuse clusters, sometimes one-sided, subsessile to short-pedicelled. Fruits: Capsules 8-12 mm long. Seeds slender, angled and winged, white to light brown, 5-10 per locule. Ecology: Found in open coniferous forests, from 5,000-8,500 ft (1524-2591 m); flowering May-September. Distribution: Montana to British Columbia, south to New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Notes: This species has lovely red flowers with long tubes and 5 spreading, flattened lobes with acuminate tips. Look for it in mountainous areas. Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher2012 Etymology: Ipomopsis comes from the Greek ipo, "to strike," and opsis, "appearance," thus of striking appearance, and aggregata means "flocking together," or growing in groups, clustered.