WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

 

As flowers go, bird’s beak will never make the dining table bouquet. The thumb-nail sized flowers never open wide. Clusters of pinkish-purple, white, or yellow flowers dot the tips of 1–2-foot tall, open branching plants. The flower shape inspired the name, Cordylanthus, Greek meaning club-like flower.


FLOWERS: July-September. The flowering spike usually has 2–10 flowers, each 1/2–1-inch long (15 to 27 mm), usually in pairs, with purplish to yellow petals. The united petals are shaped like an upturned bird’s beak with only a tiny opening, since it targets small insects for pollination.


LEAVES: Alternate. Blade narrow, 3–5 parted, 1/2–1 1/2-inches long (12–40 mm), filament-like; foliage finely hairy.


HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, foothills, open flats, disturbed areas; desert scrub, sagebrush, pinion-juniper woodlands.


ELEVATION: 6,000–8,000 feet.


RANGE: AZ, CO, NM, TX, UT.


SIMILAR SPECIES: The filament-like leaves and club-shaped flowers distinguish this flower.


NM COUNTIES: Western half of NM in low- to mid-elevation dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Dona Ana, Grant, Los Alamos, McKinley, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Socorro, Taos, Torrance.

WRIGHT'S  BIRD'S  BEAK,  CLUBFLOWER

CORDYLANTHUS WRIGHTII

Orobanchaceae, Broomrape family (formerly in Scrophulariaceae, Snapdragon family)

Annual herb

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Range Map for

Cordylanthus wrightii

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