Duration: Annual
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Forb/Herb
General: Annual herb, 4-20 cm tall (rarely to 40 cm), from a slender taproot; stems ascending to spreading, branching from the base or unbranched, densely hirtellous (covered with small course stiff hairs).
Leaves: Alternate, sessile, and ascending-appressed; blades linear to linear-lanceolate, 6-30 mm long, the margins entire to glandular-serrulate.
Flowers: Yellow, located at branch tips; sepals 5 per flower, 5-7 mm long, the margins lined with gland-tipped teeth; petals 5, orange-yellow with a reddish base, 7-14 mm long; styles 3-7 mm long.
Fruits: Capsule ovoid, 4 mm long, splitting into 5 segments at maturity.
Ecology: Found in dry open places, from 4,500-7,500 ft (1372-2286 m); flowers May-October.
Distribution: s CA, s NV, UT, AZ, CO, NM, WY, s TX, s NE; south to n MEX.
Notes: Distinctive with its delicate, densely puberulent stems and pedicels, which are somewhat grayish in color because of the hairs; and its yellow flowers with red centers; like other Linum spp, the petals fall off the flowers as the seed pods start to form.
Ethnobotany: Used as an eye medicine and to treat heartburn; flowers were used to make yellow paint; also used ceremonially.
Etymology: Linum comes from linon, the Greek name for flax; puberulum means covered with fine short hairs.
Synonyms: Cathartolinum puberulum, Linum rigidum var. puberulum, Mesynium puberulum
Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015, AHazelton 2017
