Gilia capitata

PLANT: Annual, 10-50 cm tall, branched throughout; stems glabrous to glandular. LEAVES: pubescent, gradually reduced upwards, deeply lobed once or twice, the lobes linear. FLOWER: calyx 4-5 mm long, pubescent, the lobes acuminate; corolla campanulate, 7-12 mm long, blue to bluish violet, the tube equal to the calyx, the throat exserted; stamens inserted on the throat; anthers exserted; stigmas located among or above the anthers. INFLORESCENCE: usually globose, with many subsessile flowers at the branch tips. CAPSULE: 5-6 mm long, ovoid to globose. 2n=18. NOTES: Canyons, washes, desert shrubland; Pima, Pinal cos.; 600-1400 m (2000-4600 ft); Mar-May; CA. Collected between 1903 and 1915. Our plants are referrable to subsp. staminea (E. Greene) V. E. Grant, native to the San Joaquin Valley and adjacent mountains of CA. Reports of Gilia achilleifolia Bentham subsp. multicaulis (Bentham) A. & V. E. Grant from AZ are incorrect. REFERENCES: Dieter H. Wilken and J. Mark Porter, 2005, Vascular Plants of Arizona: Polemoniaceae. CANOTIA 1: 1-37.