Evolvulus arizonicus
Common name: WILD-MORNINGGLORY Arizona desert: (Evolvulus arizonicus). Sky blue. April-October. Texas desert: (Evolvulus alsinoides). Azure blue. April-September. Convolvulus family. Size: Spreading perennial herbs up to 2 feet.
Although E. arizonicus is considered one of the desert’s most beautiful wildflowers, members of the genus are by no means limited to the desert. They are found in sunny locations on desert grasslands, open plains and dry mesas below 5,000 feet from the Dakotas and Montana to Argentina.
The flowers, although rarely more than ½ inch in diameter, are bright azure or sky blue, and seem large in comparison with the small leaves and weak, spreading stems of the plant that bears them.
Although the genus Ipomoea is the true Morningglory, blossoms of Evolvus are similar in appearance, although flattened, hence are sometimes called Wild-morningglory.
BLUE
Salvia carnosa
Salvia columbariae
Common names: CHIA, SAGE, DESERT-SAGE Arizona desert: (Salvia carnosa). Sky-blue. Spring. California desert: (Salvia columbariae). Blue. March-April. Texas desert: (Salvia arizonica). Indigo blue. July-September. Mint family. Size: Herbs and shrubs up to 3 feet high.
The word “Sage” is derived from the idea that these plants had the power to make a person wise or sage. Please do not confuse the Desert-sage with Sagebrush (Artemisia) which does not grow in low-elevation deserts but which, due to popular writings and “western” movies, is associated in the public mind with any brushy plant found in the west.
Seeds of the Chia at one time formed a staple article of diet among southwestern Indians, and are still used by natives in Mexico for food and for making mucilaginous poultices.
The flowers of several species of Chia are very ornamental and the plants are quite common, usually in sandy soil.
BLUE
Delphinium amabile
D. scaposum
Common names: LARKSPUR, WILD-DELPHINIUM Arizona desert: (Delphinium scaposum). Royal blue. March-May. California desert: (Delphinium parishi) Sky blue. Spring. Texas desert: (Delphinium carolinianum). Blue. Spring. Crowfoot family. Size: Up to 2 feet in height.
Desert Larkspurs are low-growing, spring or early summer-flowering in habit, often occurring in colonies, and frequently intermingle with other spring flowers thereby adding their blue to the colorful tapestry of ground cover. They are readily recognized because of their resemblance to the cultivated varieties called Delphiniums, and because of the tubular extension or “spur.” D. amabile is the most drought-resistant of all southwestern species and may blossom in the desert as early as February.
Because they contain delphinine and other toxic alkaloids, Larkspurs are poisonous to livestock, particularly sheep. On the desert, the plants are small and bear few but beautiful blossoms. They prefer open, gravelly soil.
It is reported that the Hopi Indians grind Larkspur blossoms with corn to produce blue meal.
BLUE
Dalea mollis
Dalea spinosa
Dalea formosa
Common names: SMOKETREE, INDIGOBUSH, PEABUSH Arizona and California deserts: (Dalea spinosa). Blue-violet. April-June. Texas deserts: (Dalea formosa). Purple. March-June. Pea family. Size: Up to 10 or 12 feet tall.
Famous, although not common, throughout the frostless areas of the desert, the Smoketree, because of its gray-green, leafless, plume-like growth resembles at a distance a gray cloud of smoke hovering over a desert campfire. When in flower, in May or June, it is one of the handsomest of desert shrubs. It is always found in the bed of a sandy wash where it obtains moisture from runoff following summer showers or winter rains.
In California, it occurs in portions of both the Mohave and the Colorado Deserts, and in Arizona is restricted to the western part of the state. It is fairly abundant near Quitobaquito in the southwestern corner of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
Other species of Indigobush, of which there are many, are less famous than the Smoketree, but all have purple or indigo flowers and most of them are beautiful and noticeable when in blossom. Indians used an extract from the twigs for dyeing basket material and ate the roots of D. terminalis.
BLUE