PLANT: Annuals or perennials; stems simple to much branched, erect to decumbent, leafy.

LEAVES: motsly opposite, sometimes alternate above, simple to deeply palmately lobed, the lobes confluent with the rachis, linear, flat to terete, acute to weakly spinulose.

INFLORESCENCE: terminal and compact or axillary, glabrous to glandular.

FLOWERS: sessile to short pedicelled, actinomorphic; calyx tube membranes ruptured or distended in fruit, the lobes equal, linear to attenuate, often mucronate; corolla white to yellow or lavender, sometimes bluish; stamens equally inserted on the corolla throat or tube; anthers exserted or included; filaments equal in length; style included to exserted.

CAPSULE: ovoid to oblong; seeds 1-several per locule.

NOTES: Ca. 24 spp. in w N. Amer. (Greek: linon = flax + anthos = flower).

REFERENCES: Dieter H. Wilken and J. Mark Porter, 2005, Vascular Plants of Arizona: Polemoniaceae. CANOTIA 1: 1-37.