Mojave Desert (wildflowers) Annuals

Photography by
Walter Feller

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Mojave Desert Plants

Mojave Desert Annuals > Wildflower Photos
WILDFLOWERS in the DESERT

The extent and timing of spring wildflower blooms may vary greatly from one year to the next in the California deserts. Blooms are dependent upon many environmental factors, with winter precipitation and spring temperatures the key ones.

In general, spring flowering begins as temperatures rise -- first at lower elevations in February and later at higher elevations in March and April. On mountain tops above 5,000 feet blooms are as late as June.

Some believe that spectacular desert blooms occur on an average about once every twenty years and others say that an ideal year comes once every three or four decades.

Most spring wildflowers in the desert are annuals. Strict germination requirements are a kind of insurance for the seed, keeping it from germinating when it isn't likely to survive to maturity.

Three plants that seem to bloom even in poor years are the Bladderpod, Creosote Bush and the Jimson Weed or Datura.
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Common Name	Scientific Name	Family
Fiddle Neck	Amsincaia sp.	Borage
Red Stem Filaree	Erodium cicutarium
California Poppy	Escholtzia californiaca	Poppy
Owl's Clover	Castilleja exserta	Figwort
Davy Gilia	Gilia latiflora ssp. Davyi	Phlox
Bigelow Coreopsis	Coreopsis bigelovii	Sunflower
Blue Dicks	Dichelostemma capitatum
Cream Cups	Platystemon californicus	Poppy
Desert Parsley	Lomatium mohavense
Lacy Phacelia	Phacelia cryptantha	Waterleaf
Pygmy-Leaved Lupine	Lupinus bicolor	Pea
Goldfields	Lasthenia californica	Sunflower





Little White Forget-Me-Not	Cryptantha sp.	Borage
Dune Primrose	Oenothera deltoides	Evening Primrose
Heron's Bill	Erodium circutarium	Geranium
Desert Hyacinth	Brodiaea capitata	Lily
Weak Stem Mariposa	Calochortus flexuosa	Lily
Red Mariposa	Calochortus kennedyi	Lily
Desert Milkweed	Asclepias erosa	Milkweed
Water Cress	Rorippa sp.	Mustard
Golden Gilia	Linanthus aureus	Phlox
Prickly Poppy	Argemone sp.	Poppy
Miner's Lettuce	Montia sp.	Purslane
Monkey Flower	Mimulus sp.	Snapdragon
Fragrant Penstamen	Penstamen palmeri	Snapdragon
Fremont's Pin Cushion	Chaenactis fremontii	Sunflower
Wallace Daisy	Eriophyllum wallacei	Sunflower
Desert Dandlion	Malocothryx glabrata	Sunflower
Desert Chicory	Rafinesquia californica	Sunflower
Purple Mat	Nama demissum	Waterleaf
Canterbury Bells	Phacelia campanularia	Waterleaf