Common name:
Stewart's gily-flower
Family:
Scientific name:
Gilia stewartii
Main flower color:
Range:
Far west Texas
Height:
Up to 12 inches
Habitat:
Canyons, rocky plains, deserts
Leaves:
Up to 2 inches long; pinnately divided into short, linear segments
Season:
February to May
Gilia stewartii is a small plant, less than one foot high, with slender stems that are woody at the base and sparingly branched. Stems and leaves have a covering of tiny glandular hairs. Basal leaves are the largest, up to 2 inches long, divided once or twice into narrow lobes; stem leaves are smaller, once divided, and are reduced still further higher up the stem. Basal leaves tend to wither before flowering.
Flowers form singly or in pairs on stalks up to one inch long. Flowers have a five lobed calyx, fused only at the base and membranous along the margins. The corolla is two or three times as long as the calyx; it has five pink, ovate lobes, spreading at around 90 degrees, and five exserted stamens, with white filaments and bright yellow anthers. The pistil rises slightly above the stamens, topped by a three lobed stigma. The fruits are egg-shaped, greenish brown, about the same size as the calyces.
Flowers form singly or in pairs on stalks up to one inch long. Flowers have a five lobed calyx, fused only at the base and membranous along the margins. The corolla is two or three times as long as the calyx; it has five pink, ovate lobes, spreading at around 90 degrees, and five exserted stamens, with white filaments and bright yellow anthers. The pistil rises slightly above the stamens, topped by a three lobed stigma. The fruits are egg-shaped, greenish brown, about the same size as the calyces.
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