Cordylanthus wrightii is an annual that has filiform divided leaves and a yellow corolla that is partially obscured by the green calyx. The flowers do not seem to open fully. It is found on dry hillsides at middle elevation.

Duration: Annual

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Annual herb, 3-50 cm tall, from a slender yellow taproot; stem solitary, paniculate-branching, and leafy; herbage glandular-pubescent to glabrous.

Leaves: Alternate along the stems; blades 1-4 cm long, pinnatifid into 3-5 filiform divisions.

Flowers: Yellow to purple, in capitate clusters of 2-10 flowers at branch tips; each flower cluster is subtended by one or more bracts with the same filiform pinnatifid morphology as the leaves; each flower within the spike is subtended by a lanceolate bract, 15-25 mm long, with an entire margin or occasionally with the tip divided into a few short narrow lobes; calyx 2-3 cm long, tubular at the base, split and extending dorsally into a sheath-like structure, (the whole resembling 2 lobes); petals yellow to lavender or lavender-marked, sparsely pubescent, 2-3 cm long, fused into a tube and strongly 2-lipped at the top, the two lips roughly equal in size; the upper lip is helmet-shaped (galeate) and enclosing the stamens and style, and the lower lip is inflated and 3-lobed.

Fruits: Capsules slender, compressed, 1 cm long; containing numerous honeycombed seeds, 2 mm long.

Ecology: Found on dry plains and hills, from 4,000-8,000 ft (1219-2438 m); flowers July-October.

Distribution: TX to CO, UT, NM, and AZ; south to n MEX

Notes: Distinguished by being a much-branched annual with finely divided feathery leaves and tight clusters of yellow or yellow-and-purple, usually hairy flowers at the tips of the branches. The flowers appear to never open, but upon closer inspection you'll see there is a tiny gap at the top of the corolla for pollinators to enter.

Ethnobotany: A decoction of the plant was used for syphilis, menstrual pain, prolapses of the uterus, and by men for leg or body aches; also used for ceremonial purposes.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011, AHazelton 2017

Etymology: Cordylanthus comes from two Greek words cordule, "club," and anthos, "flower", while wrightii is named after William Greenwood Wright (1831-1912), one of the first lepidopterists in California.