FLOWERS: Corolla lobes equalling the throat, yellow, the throat orange.

NOTES: See also parent taxon. Sandy to gravelly soils, washes and bajadas, desert shrubland or woodland: Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Yavapai cos.; 450-1860 m (1480-6100 ft); Mar-Jun. Range of the species.

REFERENCES: Dieter H. Wilken and J. Mark Porter, 2005, Vascular Plants of Arizona: Polemoniaceae. CANOTIA 1: 1-37.

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Annual 3-15 cm tall, branched throughout with ascending stems, glabrous to pilose or glandular.

Leaves: Linear, mucronate, 3-5, each 3-8 mm long, glabrous to glandular.

Flowers: Compact and terminal inflorescence, open with 1-3 flowers; flowers pedicelled, filiform pedicels 4-13 mm long; calyx glabrous, campanulate, 3-8 mm long, lobes equaling tube, the hyaline membranes as wide as the herbaceous ribs; corolla diurnal, closed at night, rotate, 6-15 mm long, white or bright yellow, throat maroon to orange, with ring of hairs between the tube and throat; stamens inserted on throat, style highly exserted.

Fruits: Ovoid to oblong capsule.

Ecology: Found in sandy to gravelly soils, along washes and bajadas and into the desert shrubland and woodlands from 1,500-6,000 ft (457-1829 m); flowers March-June.

Notes: Two varieties are found in our region: var. aureus and var. decorus. Var. aureus is distinguished by its corolla tube and lobes being yellow with an orange throat, while var. decorus has a white tube and lobes, with a maroon throat. There is overlap in the species, with the former being more widely distributed in the eastern part of the state, and the latter in the west.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Leptosiphon comes from Greek leptos, slender, and siphon, tube, while aureus means golden.

Synonyms: Linanthus aureus, Linnaeus aureus subsp. aureus

Editor: SBuckley, 2010