Wildflowers At 70 MPH: New Mexico

With the spirit of Jack Kerouac never far from the surface, my wife and I jumped all over the opportunity to leave Gulf of Mexico, and return to California. Across the bottom of Mississippi, up through Louisiana and into Texas, highways were lined with sunflowers, varieties of goldenrod, Mistflower, and golden asters. And once we got into Oklahoma the most abundant wildflower was Maximilian Sunflower, a gorgeous species top heavy with blossoms. Such variety and abundance surprised me. After such bounty, I thought, New Mexico and Arizona would surely be a barren, dusty landscape. After all, it was October. What else could possibly be blooming?

Lots. Lots and lots.

While most of the wildflowers that raced by me at 70 MPH...well 75 MPH in these states...were obvious members of the Composite Family (Compositae), others obviously weren’t. Most, as usual, would forever be colorful blurs flowing past me as I sped toward California. Whenever we stopped however, I was on my hands and knees, inspecting and photographing.

One of the first wildflowers I noticed, which was not yellow and not a member of the Composite Family, was a member of the Four O’Clock Family (Nyctaginaceae), Colorado Four O’Clock (Mirabilis multiflora). A perennial that grows up to 2’, it can be found along roadsides, open sandy locations and mesas, at elevations between 2,500 to 6,500’. It blooms from spring into autumn.

Also known as Desert Four O’Clock, Wild Four O’Clock, Showy Four O’clock and Maravilla, these magenta-purple flowers open in the afternoon, and wither away the following morning. They have a funnel-shape, petal-like calyx, which is up to 1” in diameter, and 3 to 6 of them blossom in a cluster in leaf axils. The plant forms an almost shrub-like mound, and it was a common sight along the interstate.

Everything else I was able to identify in New Mexico was a Composite, beginning with Prairie Zinnia (Zinnia grandifolia).

Prairie Zinnia, blooming from May into October, has bright yellow flower heads of 3 to 6 ray flowers, with reddish disk flowers in the center. They are about 1 1/2” wide, and spring up singly at the tips of the branches. The entire plant grows to about 1’, forming a many-branched, rounded clump.

Also known by such names as Plains Zinnia, Zacate Zinnia and Desert Zinnia, it grows in pinyon-juniper woodlands, along roadsides, in dry plains, and on mesas. It can be found at elevations between 4,000 to 6,500’.

And then there was Golden Crownbeard (Verbesina encelioides), which looks like a small sunflower.

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