Langloisia setosissima subsp. punctata

Bristly calico - Langloisia setosissima subsp. punctata

Polemoniaceae

Found in the Death Valley region and the adjoining Panamint Valley, bristly calico is another of the tiny desert annuals that can be easily missed by the casual observer. This species is the sole member of its genus, which contains two sub-species. In the other sub-species, L. setosissima subsp. setosissima has fainter speckling on its petals, but is otherwise indistinct. These plants can be anywhere from 4-20 cm tall, with the flowers being 1.5-2cm in diameter. They are typically found on rocky slopes and washes of the eastern California deserts and up into Oregon and Idaho, and east into Nevada and Arizona.

Like most desert annuals and smaller plants, this species has very little in the way of documentation for this plant.

Linanthus parryae

Sand Blossom - Linanthus parryae - Polemoniaceae

One of the smallest flowering plants found in the Mojave, Linanthus parryae, also known as sand blossom, is both a prolific and showy little annual. Flowering from March to May, these petite phlox can carpet the hills and washes of the desert with a blanket of purple and white. Endemic to the California floristic provence, the best places to find these little jewels are creosote bush scrub and joshua tree woodlands.

Vegetatively, these plants are rather unremarkable. There is little in the way of an above-ground stem, with only small, spiny leaves ringing what does emerge. However, what they lack in vegetation, they more than make up in blossom. Delicate and showy, the flowers from this plant are a spectacular show in the early to late spring. One of the most striking aspects of these flowers is their polymorphism: populations tend to be either white or blue-purple, and in some cases, a mixture of both.

Because of this polymorphism, these plants have been the subject of genetic studies by several important botanists, including Sewall Wright, who based much of his work on genetic drift on the study this Linanthus.