Found in open pine forests, sandy, disturbed soil
Seen blooming in September on the Quemazon Trail, Los Alamos

The attractive Southwestern Cosmos grows to 2½ feet high with a slender, airy shape and thread-like leaves. The flower is about an inch across, white to rosy to violet in color with toothed petals. The seeds are barbed, causing them to lodge in fur or clothing. The Navajo used a cold infusion of the dried leaves as a ceremonial chant lotion. Source.
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If you trying to identify a different flower, then you can check what other flowers bloom this month. If you cannot identify a flower from the website, send a photo and where you took it to [email protected]. Read online for tips.   

Found in hot, dry, open saline or alkaline areas
Seen blooming in June and fruiting in August on CR 142

Greasewood is a common shrub in our area. Scruffy looking, it is easily overlooked for most of the year. It grows from three to eight feet tall and six feet across with thorny, white branches which darken with age. Its leaves are narrow, green and fleshy. Male and female flowers are tiny and greenish on the same bush; the males in catkin-like spikes, the females in the leaf axils. They bloom in June but the flowers are inconspicuous. The photo shows the seed pods surrounded by a flower-like, papery wing that is pale green maturing to red. Greasewood is an important winter browse plant for domestic sheep, cattle, elk, mule deer, pronghorn and jackrabbits. Traditionally, sharpened sticks were used in acupuncture and to make arrow shafts. The wood is strong and was used in construction, to make clothes hooks, planting sticks and stirring rods, and for fuel in the kivas. Medicinally, the plant was used for insect bites, diarrhea and on aching and decayed teeth. The young shoots were eaten as greens and the seeds roasted and eaten during hard times. Source.

​If you trying to identify a different flower, then you can check what other flowers bloom this month. If you cannot identify a flower from the website, send a photo and where you took it to [email protected]. Read online for tips.   

Found in wet areas near slow-moving water
Seen blooming in August by the Rio Chama

Water Horehound is not a particularly showy plant. It grows up to three feet tall with the characteristic square stem of a mint, but it does not have aromatic leaves. It grows in similar habitat to Wild Mint which has lavender flowers and a distinctive aroma. The leaves are opposite and toothed. The tiny white tubular flowers with lavender markings grow in a whorl around the stem at the base of the leaves. Each flower has two stamens. Traditionally, a compound containing the entire plant was used for stomach cramps. Source. In modern times people use bugleweed for overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism), premenstrual syndrome (PMS), insomnia, and other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses. Source.

​If you are trying to identify a different flower then you can check what other flowers bloom this month. If you cannot identify a flower from the website, send a photo and where you took it to [email protected]. Read online for tips.   

Found in open, rocky soil in mixed conifer forests
Seen blooming in August by FS Rd 137 in Carson NF

Beardlip Penstemon has spikes of tubular flowers which are very attractive to hummingbirds. It grows to four feet tall with long, narrow, dark green leaves, mostly at the base of the plant. The flowers are 1½ inches long and have two long protruding upper lobes and three lower lobes with golden hairs in the throat. It blooms for many weeks. Native Americans had many medicinal uses for the plant. It was used for menstrual pain and stomachache, burns, coughs, gun wounds and arrow wounds, and as a diuretic. The chewed root was rubbed over the rabbit stick to ensure success in the hunt. A rabbit stick which was treated in this manner was sure to kill any rabbit that it was aimed at, provided the thrower had a good heart. Source.
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If you are trying to identify a different flower then you can check what other flowers bloom this month. If you cannot identify a flower from the website, send a photo and where you took it to [email protected]. Read online for tips.

Found on rocky hillsides, in canyons
Seen blooming in August in Plaza Blanca

Wright’s Thelypody grows to seven feet tall with many branches tipped by showy flower heads that look like bottlebrushes. Leaves have smooth or toothed edges. The flowers are white to lavender with four petals and grow in loose clusters above many 3-inch-long thin seed pods. The pods grow horizontally to the stem or curve downwards. Traditionally Wright’s Thelypody has been used as a dermatological aid and as an eye medicine. Young plants were made into a stew with wild onions, wild celery, tallow or bits of meat. The Navajo tied a plant to the cradle bow to make baby sleep and the Tewa used it to make paint for pottery. Source.

​If you are trying to identify a different flower then you can check what other flowers bloom this month. If you cannot identify a flower from the website, send a photo and where you took it to [email protected]. Read online for tips.