Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Annual herbs, 10-40 cm tall; stems freely branched, decumbent to ascending, strigose.

Leaves: Alternate, on short hairy petioles; blades ovate to lanceolate, 1-4 cm long, strigose-canescent.

Flowers: White, solitary in leaf axils and at stem tips, and often opposite a leaflike bract; calyx 5-lobed, the lobes about 3 mm long; corolla funnelform, white, 10-15 mm long, the tube strigose.

Fruits: Separates into 2 pubescent nutlets, 3 mm long.

Ecology: Found dry, sandy places, from 4,500-6,000 ft (1372-1829 m); flowers March-October.

Distribution: NE to TX, west to CO, UT, AZ and MEX.

Notes: This low, hairy annual is sometimes called "false morning glory" because its white, funnel-shaped axillary flowers and short-petioled ovate leaves resemble some species of morning glory (Convolvulus). Look for it in sandy areas such as the vast expanses of stabilized sand dunes in northeast Arizona. The hairs on the stems and leaves are silvery-white, appressed, and visible to the naked eye. The species would not be confused with its congener, H. curassavicum, which is also present throughout the Southwest; that species is perennial, hairless, and has flowers in curling, terminal spikes. The genus Heliotropium has at times been placed in 3 different families: Boraginaceae, Hydrophyllaceae, and Heliotropaceae.

Ethnobotany: Kayenta Navajo used the seeds as a grain to make porridge.

Etymology: Heilotropium is from the Greek helios, "sun," and trope, "turning," thus meaning "sun-turning;" convolvulaceum means resembling the genus Convolvulus.

Synonyms: None

Editor: AHazelton 20015