Cuphea wrightii

Kearney and Peebles 1969, Shreve and Wiggins 1964

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Annual herbs, herbage glandular-hispid with spreading, gland-tipped, purple or reddish hairs, erect, leafy, branching, to 0.5 m. Leaves: Mostly opposite, borne on slender petioles, lanceolate to ovate, thin, 3-15 mm wide, to 3.5 cm long. Flowers: Purple, axillary or borne in terminal, leafy racemes and narrow panicles, flowers irregular with 6 petals, the upper petals larger than the others, calyx tube many ribbed with 6 teeth, 4-6 mm long, turgid in fruit, hispid, stamens 12. Fruits: Ovoid capsule, 5-7 mm long, seeds 1 mm long, lenticular. Ecology: Found in rich soils in canyons, from 4,000-6,000 ft (1219-1829 m); flowering August-October. Notes: The nerves of the calyx tube appear as purple or black, linear lines and the calyx tube is persistent. This plant can be identified by the glandular herbage along with the delicate purple flowers with the tubular calyx. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Cuphea means curved, while wrightii is named for Charles Wright, a 19th century American botanist. Synonyms: Cuphea wrightii var. nematopetala, Parsonsia wrightii Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011