PLANT: Annual, 4-12 cm tall, usually with ascending to spreading branches; stems with short glandular hairs and some nonglandular curly hairs.

LEAVES: subglabrous to short glandular pubescent, coarsely toothed to lobed, the lobes ovate.

INFLORESCENCE: a congested terminal head, bracteate, the outer bracts leaf-like; flowers sessile to subsessile.

FLOWER: calyx 3-6 mm long, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate; corolla white, the tube 3-5 mm long, the throat 0.5-1 mm wide, the lobes rounded; stamens inserted on the throat between the lobes; filaments subequal; anthers and stigma slightly exserted.

CAPSULE: 4-5 mm long; seeds 1-3 per locule. 2n=14.

NOTES: Sandy or gravelly soils, washes, desert shrublands, pinyonjuniper woodland; Apache, Coconino, Graham, Greenlee, Mohave, Navajo cos.; 890-1700 m (2900-5600 ft); Apr-Jun; e CA to s ID, s to TX, n Mex.

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: Herbaceous annuals, to 12 cm tall, stems decumbent to prostrate or ascending to spreading branches, herbage with short glandular hairs and some nonglandular curly hairs.

Leaves: Alternate, to 2 cm long, blades entire to toothed or pinnate-5-7-lobed, lobes ovate, terminal lobes and blade axis equal in length, surfaces glabrous above and puberulent below, leaves becoming crowded below inflorescences.

Flowers: White, radial, corollas 3-6 mm long, with obtuse or rounded lobes to 2 mm long, the tips sometimes acuminate, the throat 0.5-1 mm wide, calyx 3-6 mm long, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate, stamens attached at 1 level, generally included, filaments and anthers roughly equal in length, styles included, flowers sessile to subsessile, borne terminally in congested, head-like infloresences, subtended by leafy bracts.

Fruits: Ellipsoid capsules to 5 mm long. Seeds slender, angled, and winged, white to light brown.

Ecology: Found on sandy or gravelly soils, on plains and mesas, from 2,000-7,000 ft (610-2134 m); flowering March-July.

Distribution: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Wyoming.

Notes: This small, white ipomopsis has 5 petal-like, acute-tipped lobes and included stamens and styles, with small, thickish leaves covered with minute, stiff, white hairs.

Ethnobotany: Plant used as a tonic and a soporific.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher2012

Etymology: Ipomopsis from the Greek ipo, "to strike," and opsis, "appearance," thus of striking appearance, and polycladon means many-branched.