Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Glabrous herb or shrub with slender, leafy stems, erect and branching, 20-45 cm tall, branches ascending at a narrow angle.

Leaves: Narrowly oblong to linear, to 15 mm long, simple, sessile, mostly alternate.

Flowers: Yellow, regular, perfect, borne in spike-like, elongate racemes, sepals and petals 5, sepals persistent, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, entire or with few teeth and marginal glands, petals deciduous, with 5 stamens, styles 2-5, distinct to the base.

Fruits: Globose capsule with 4-10 valves.

Ecology: Found in pine forests, from 4,500-9,000 ft (1372-2743 m); flowering June-September.

Notes: The keys to this species are the styles distinct to the base, the mostly entire sepals, and the yellow star-shaped flowers. Leaves and flowers borne somewhat appressed to the stem. Flowers are often as large as or larger than the leaves. This species looks similar to Menodora scabra, except that in M. scabra the capsules are borne in pairs.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Linum comes from the old Greek name for flax linon used by Theophrastus, while neomexicanum means of or from New Mexico.

Synonyms: Cathartolinum neomexicanum

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011