Langlosia Setosissima – Lilac Sunbonnet

Langloisia setosissima is a flowering plant, the sole species in the genus Langloisia in the family Polemoniaceae.
Known as bristly langloisia, bristly-calico, Great Basin langloisia or the lilac sunbonnet, it is native to the western United States, where it is found in desert washes and on rocky slopes and plains from eastern Oregon and Idaho south to eastern California and Arizona. It is common in the Mojave Desert.
An annual plant, it grows one and a half inches to eight inches tall. The leaves are alternate, spirally arranged, simple linear or oblanceolate, 2-3 cm long, densely bristly with a toothed margin, each tooth having one bristle. The basal teeth of upper leaves reduce to a cluster of two to three bristles.
The flowers are white to light blue or pale purple in color, 1.5-2 cm diameter, with a deeply five-lobed corolla. The inflorescence is clustered, terminal and head-like, with leaf-like bracts and pedicel that are nonexistent or short. The flowers are equally sized calyx lobes that are bristle-tipped. The corolla is funnel-shaped and stamens are attached at or below sinuses, and are uniform in length, exserted and produce pollen that is white to blue. The petals are usually a solid color but can have purple marks.
The stem is erect and generally naked below but leafy above.
The lilac sunbonnet flowers from February to June.
The fruit is oblong-lanceolate, triangular in X –section with the outer wall of the valve flat.
The Langloisia’s seeds are gelatinous when wet.
Its most common habitat is in desert washes, flats, and slopes, in gravelly to sandy soils generally below 5,600 feet in elevation.
There are two subspecies. Langloisia setosissima subsp. setosissima have flowers with a uniformly colored corolla, possibly showing faint patterns of dots and stripes. The Langloisia setosissima subsp. punctata (syn. Langloisia lanata, Langloisia punctata) sports flowers with a corolla spotted with darker purple and yellow.

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