Trailing Windmills

Allionia incarnata

Family: Nyctaginaceae - Four O'Clock Family

Perennial or winter annual herbs; stems growing along the ground 3.9” to 2.6' (1 to 8 dm) long or more

Leaves: opposite; simple; 0.32” to 2.2” (8 to 55 mm) long, 0.12” to 1.72” (3 to 43 mm) wide; egg-shaped to elliptical

Flowers: pink-purple flowers, rarely white; (6 to 15 mm) long; perfect; 0 petals; 4 to 5 united petaloid sepals; sepaloid bracts (bracts mimic the sepals); 1 pistil; 4 to 7 stamens

Pollinators: other genera in this family are pollinated by insects

Fruits: leathery achene 0.12” to 0.16” (3 to 4 mm) long; indehiscent (not splitting open at maturity)

Blooms: April, May, June, July, August, September, October

Habitat: desert shrub communities

Location seen: outside the park near Amassa Back off Kane Creek Road

Other: The genus name, “Allionia”, is named for Carlo Ludovico Allioni (1728-1804), a professor of botany at Turin, naturalist, physician, author, contemporary and friend of Linnaeus. The species name, “incarnata”, means “flesh-colored”.