WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

 
 

Spreading to mounding, densely leafy stems 4–12 inches long are covered with hairy leaves and long, funnel shaped white flowers that bloom from the leaf axils. Note the rough leaves have undulating, wavy edges, and are covered with both flattened and cone-shaped hairs (use lens).


FLOWER: May–September. Flowers are white to pale-green and funnel-shaped. The 1 3/8–1 7/8 inch long (35–48 mm) floral tube has a greenish throat and 5 rounded, petal-like lobes that spread open to 1 1/4-inches in diameter (30 mm). Like in many Four O’Clock species, the long flora tube with nectar at the base attracts hawk moths for fertilization. Small, self-fertilizing flowers (cleistogamous) that don’t open also produce seeds. The fruit capsule develops 5 thin wings.


LEAVES: Opposite, dull green. Paired blades slightly unevenly sized, oval to oblong, 3/8–1 1/4 inches long (10–30 mm), to 3/4-inch wide (19 mm); surfaces rough-hairy, margins ungulate (wavy); 5 stamens and a long style extend beyond the throat.


HABITAT: Dry sandy, rocky, clay, limestone, gypsum soils; hills, ridges, sand dunes; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper, mesquite-juniper woodlands.


ELEVATION: 3,400–5,700 feet.


RANGE: NM, OK, TX.


SIMILAR SPECIES: The flowers of Angel Trumpets, A. longiflora, in the same range, have a 2 3/4–7 inch long (7-17 cm), greenish floral tube that opens into a circular disk without separate, petal-like lobes; Lance-leaf Moonpod, A. lanceolata, with a slightly broader range, has creamy to pale-yellow flowers.


NM COUNTIES: Uncommon in the southern 3/4ths of NM in low- to mid-elevation, arid habitats: Bernalillo, Chaves, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Guadalupe, Lea, Lincoln, Otero, Sandoval, San Miguel. Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro.

SPREADING  MOONPOD

ACLEISANTHES  DIFFUSA  (SELINOCARPUS  DIFFUSUS)

Four O’Clock Family, Nyctaginaceae

Perennial herb

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  1. Leaves have undulating, wavy edges (left arrow) and  rough, hairy surfaces.

  2. The long floral tube (top arrow) spreads open with 5 petal-like lobes.

Photos Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque.