Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Herbaceous to suffrutescent plant with slender, ascending stems up to 1.2 m; stems branching and minutely scaberulous. Often described as a scraggly shrub, though it is not truly a woody plant.

Leaves: Sessile, opposite, linear to filiform-linear with an attenuate base and short-acuminate tip, entire, up to 4 cm long, glabrous to puberulent.

Flowers: Borne in axillary pairs and loose terminal panicles; on scaberulous peduncles to 24 cm; calyx 5 parted; corolla light purple, to 14 mm long, with a tubular base and terminating in 4 lobes, the lobes equal to each other in length and twice the length of the tube; stamens 2, exserted, with yellow anthers.

Fruits: Capsule 4-seeded, cavate, glabrous or sparingly scaberulous, the stipe as long as the body of the capsule.

Ecology: Found in sandy-gravelly soils and among rocks and boulders on slopes, in arroyos and canyons, from 2,500-5,000 ft (1067-1524 m); flowers May to October.

Distribution: se AZ, s NM, and w TX

Notes: This weak but tall subshrub is uncommon but quite noticeable by its lavender flowers and narrow, opposite leaves. At first glance it appears to be a shrub because of the plant's size (waist-height) and the branching pattern of the slender stems. On closer inspection you'll see that it is herbaceous above the base. The flowers are unique in that the corolla lobes (petals) are roughly equal in size and shape, yet often one lobe is folded down, to serve as a landing pad for pollinators. This gives the flower the appearance of bilateral symmetry, similar to a mint or Penstemon. There are other Carlowrightias in the southwest; C. arizonica and C. texana both have white flowers and are much shorter, less than 0.5 m tall. Poliomintha incana is another tall subshrub with opposite leaves and lavender, bilabiate flowers. It can be distinguished by the sweet mint-sage scent of the foliage and the bilaterally symmetrical mint flowers (2 petals point up, and 3 petals point down).

Ethnobotany: unknown

Etymology: Carlowrightia is named for American botanist Charles (Carlos) Wright (1811-1885); linearifolia refers to the linear leaf shape.

Synonyms: Schaueria linearifolia

Editor: AHazelton 2015