PLANT: Short-lived perennial, 20-75 cm tall, simple to branched at base; stems short pilose to woolly.

LEAVES: glabrous to sparsely short pilose or glandular, the lower deeply lobed, the upper entire or few lobed.

INFLORESCENCE: usually one sided, with subsessile flowers crowded near tips of short, lateral branches.

FLOWER: calyx 4-7 mm long, short-glandular pubescent, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate; corolla purplish, the tube 15-25 mm long, curved slightly downward, the throat 2-3 mm wide, the lobes obovate, apiculate, sometimes with white or dark purple flecks; stamens inserted on the tube; filaments unequal; anthers included to slightly exserted; stigma slightly exceeding the anthers.

CAPSULE: 5-7.5 mm long; seeds 1-3 per locule. 2n=14.

NOTES: Sandy to gravelly soils, oak woodland, coniferous forest; Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz cos.; 1430-2690 m (4700-8800 ft); Jul-Nov; NM to TX, n Mex.

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

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Herbaceous or shrubby perennials to 75 cm tall, stems leafy, simple to branching at the base, short-pilose to wooly.

Leaves: Alternate, lower leaves sometimes opposite, pinnately parted into narrow segments, the lower deeply lobed, the upper entire or few lobed, glabrous to sparsely short pilose or glandular.

Flowers: Blue, violet, or purple, corollas regular, the tube elongated, 12-25 mm long with 5 rounded lobes, emarginate or apiculate at the tips, sometimes with white or dark purple flecks, calyx with 5 lobes 4-7 mm long, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate at the tips, stamens erect and not or only slightly exserted, filaments short, style glabrous, inflorescences usually one sided, with subsessile flowers crowded near the tips of short, lateral branches.

Fruits: Capsules with 3 cells and 3 valves, 5-7.5 mm long. Seeds 1-3 in each locule.

Ecology: Found on sandy to gravelly soils in openings in coniferous forests, oak woodlands, and on rocky slopes, from 4,500-9,000 ft (1372-2743 m); flowering August-September.

Distribution: Southern Arizona, New Mexico, Texas; northern Mexico.

Notes: If you find a specimen where the stamens are greatly exserted with a tube 30-40 mm long the plant is likely I. thurberi.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher 2011

Etymology: Ipomopsis comes from the Greek ipo, "to strike," and opsis, "appearance," thus of striking appearance, while the meaning of macombii is unknown.