Violet Snapdragon
Nuttall's Snapdragon
Sairocarpus nuttallianus
(Antirrhinum nuttalliana)
Photographed at Bumble Bee, Yavapai Co., Arizona. April 2008.
ANNUAL: Weak-stemmed, spring annual growing usually amongst other plants
and rarely taller than 50 cm.
FLOWERS: Blooming April and May with small
(<12 mm), violet, two-lipped flowers aranged in a short, erect
spike. The calyx lobes are also densly sticky-haired. Four stamens.
LEAVES: Leaves are elyptic to linear and are covered with sticky hairs.
Leaves on lower portions of stem are opposite while some higher on stem close
to flowers are alternate.
RANGE: Mostly an obscure spring plant of riparian habitats in the
Sonoran Desert in Arizona. Ranges also into southern California and Baja,
Mexico.
FRUIT: Dry capsules splitting lengthwise releasing a dozen or more
seeds.
UNARMED