Plant Name
Scientific Name: Pholistoma auritum
Common Names: Blue Fiestaflower, Blue Fiesta-flower, Desert Fiestaflower
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Weak vine, Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert
Flower Color: Violet-blue
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: Sprawling to 2 feet (61 cm) long
Description: The flowers are solitary or in groups of 2 to 6 in cymes. The individual flowers are bell-shaped, drooping, 1 1/4 inches (3 cm) wide, and have 5 rounded lobes and 5 dark purple spots at the base of the flower. The 10 calyx lobes are bristly-hairy, edged with red, and alternately bent forward and backward. The leaves clasp the stems and are green, alternate above, opposite below, pinnately lobed, and have winged petioles. This plant is covered in curved or hooked hairs and has weak, sprawling stems.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Solanales
Family: Hydrophyllaceae – Waterleaf family
Genus: Pholistoma Lilja – fiestaflower
Species: Pholistoma auritum (Lindl.) Lilja – blue fiestaflower
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