Sowthistle Desert Dandelion, Yellow Saucers,Malacothrix sonchoides,Sunflower Family (Asteraceae)

5/31/2024

The Bloom Blog
Blooming this week in the environs of Abiquiú
By Wildflowers of the Southern Rocky Mountains

Found in dry, sandy areas
Seen blooming in May around Mamacita’s, Hwy 554

In the fields around Mamacita’s there is a super bloom of Sowthistle Desert Dandelions happening. Thousands of showy yellow flowers are brightening the smoky landscape. In the 12 years I have lived here I have never seen this before; must be right moisture at the right time. There is also an abundance of bright orange Globemallow blooming along the highways. Sowthistle Desert Dandelions grow to 14 inches high with smooth, leaning, twisted, branched stems and short, fleshy, lobed leaves growing in a rosette. Flower heads are dandelion-like with only ray flowers and are about one inch across. Individual petals are toothed at the tip. The Navajo used the plant for vomiting; unspecified whether to induce or cure. 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 contact@rockymountainsflora.com. Read online for tips.

2 Comments

Sara Wright

5/31/2024 07:38:46 am

I love reading this blog... I loved seeing those dandelions... it interests me that you too have such an abundance of these wonderful pollinators just as I do this year - It's had to believe that when I first came here there were no dandelions and I brought them in to the small area around my little cabin that has disappeared under permanent "NO MOW" I have hundreds of gorgeous dandelions that have been blooming since April and they are still blooming! My property is mostly a wildflower/woodland/bog stream wild-land... I have let my semi cultivated garden go knowing that a heating climate will require too much watering, and besides I am doing research on ares plants in other large protected lands...and need to spend time in deep woods - fragments of what once was real country - now the logging machine is taking all th trees and no one cares...Thanks for loving wildflowers!

Renata Zimmermann link

6/6/2024 08:46:31 am

thanks for that info.I never saw this kind of bursting colors in that field....and I have been here for quite a while. so beautiful and now I don't have to guess anymore what kind of flowers they are.

Author

I am Marilyn Phillips, a native of England, whose love of nature and the outdoors from childhood brought me by a circuitous route to Crested Butte, Colorado in 1993 and 16 years later to northern New Mexico. My exploration of the many trails in these areas, my interest in wildflowers and photography, and career in computer system design came together in this creation. If you have any corrections, comments or questions, please contact me by email.