Thamnosma montana is a distinctive species of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts. All plant parts are densely gland-dotted. The thick, much branched, yellowish-green stems bear small, simple leaves at alternate intervals, and persist only during spring; for the rest of the year the stems are leafless, resembling a species of broom.
The urn-shaped flowers consist of four small, blunt-pointed sepals, fused for about half their height, and a purple, four-lobed corolla, around 0.4 inches long. The corolla lobes tend to stay pressed together, opening only at the (reflexed) tips, to reveal eight anthers (four held above the others) and a two-lobed style. Fruits are two-lobed green capsules, each lobe unevenly spherical.
Common names:
Turpentine bloom, Mojave desert-rue
Family:
Scientific name:
Thamnosma montana
Main flower color:
Range:
The Sonoran and Mojave deserts, and some adjacent areas; Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah
Height:
Between 1 and 2 feet
Habitat:
Washes, flats, hillsides, in desert regions; up to 6,500 feet
Leaves:
Alternate, narrowly elliptic to linear, unlobed, up to 0.6 inches long
Season:
to
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