Baileya multiradiata Sunflower Family
DESERT BAILEYA
[93.] Goldfields
Covering vast stretches of open desert with a carpet of yellow bloom following wet winters, goldfields is an appropriately named spring flower found at elevations below 4,500 feet. The low-growing plant produces small but attractive blossoms on mesas and plains, March to May, from central and southern Arizona to California, and Baja California. Horses graze Baeria avidly, but are annoyed by a small fly that frequents the fragrant blossoms, giving the plant the name “fly flower” in some localities.
Baeria chrysostoma Sunflower Family
GOLDFIELDS
[94.] Chaenactis
Probably because it is one of the attractive white desert flowers, chaenactis is popularly called “morning bride.” A larger, yellow-flowered species, Chaenactis lanosa, found on the California deserts, is called “golden girls.” Both are spring flowering annuals and, in common with other members of the genus, sometimes called “pincushion plants.” “Morning bride” is often found growing about the bases of creosotebushes, thriving at elevations between 1,000 and 3,500 feet in southern Nevada, western Arizona, and southeastern California.