Flowers of the Southwest Deserts

by Natt N. Dodge

Dichelostemma pulchellum

Common names: DESERT-HYACINTH, PAPAGOLILY, BLUEDICKS, COVENA, GRASSNUTS Arizona and California deserts: (Dichelostemma pulchellum). Light blue. February-May. Lily family. Size: About 1 foot high.

Very common and abundant in early spring, the pale blue to violet flowers of this small, delicate perennial Lily are conspicuous on open slopes and mesas. Found below 5,000 feet from southwestern New Mexico to California and northward to Oregon, they are widely scattered over the desert areas of the Southwest. Pima and Papago Indians ate the small bulbs, as also did the early white settlers who named them Grassnuts.

BLUE

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.