Gilia inconspicua

Gilia inconspicua is a small herb with rose pink colored flowers. The leaves and stem are hairy. There is a basal rosette of pinnatifid leaves. Gilia inconspicua is found growing at the bottom of dry creekbeds and in hillside rocks in early spring at lower and middle elevations.

Jepson 2012

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous annuals, to 32 cm tall, stems branches ascending or spreading, herbage tufted-woolly-hairy below inflorescence, black-glandular above. Leaves: Alternate, basal and cauline, 1-3 cm long; basal blades 1-2-pinnate-lobed, the lobes 2-10 mm long, linear or rounded, short-pointed, with entire or toothed margins, surfaces tufted-woolly-hairy, borne ascending. Flowers: Lavender or pinkish with purple spots at the base or in throat, corollas with 3-4 open and spreading, acute-tipped lobes, corollas 6-11 mm long, throats generally yellow, lobes 1.6-2 mm long, calyx 2.6-4.6 mm, glabrous or gland-dotted (or tufted-woolly-hairy in early flowers, stamens and styles exserted, flowers borne in clustered groups of 2-4, becoming open in fruit; on unequal pedicels. Fruits: Oblong-ovoid capsules 5-8 mm long with detaching valves. Seeds 12-18, yellow to brown and gelatinous when wet. Ecology: Found on rocky or sandy soils, on slopes, in washes and sagebrush communities, from 4,000-7,500 ft (1219-2286 m); flowering April-June. Distribution: California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington. Notes: This species is not yet formally recognized as occurring in Arizona and is not treated in older versions of Kearney and Peebles. Ethnobotany: Cold, compound infusion of plant taken and used as lotion for fever. Etymology: Gilia is named after Filippo Luigi Gilii (1756-1821), and inconspicua means inconspicuous. Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher2012