Desert Hyacinth (Dichelostemma capitatum) or Blue Dicks is a flowering perennial growing from an underground bulb to a height of as much as 2 feet. It has 2–3 leaves which are 4–15 inches long, green, narrowly linear, and grasslike. The crushed leaves smell like onions. The flower is head- or umbel-like, and dense. It usually contains 2 to 15 flowers, which have a blue, blue-purple, pink-purple, or white flower. The individual flowers are 1 inch wide and have 6 petal-like segments. Flowers have six stamens. Plants thrive in open disturbed environments, and are a common post-fire succession species in chaparral. The plant occurs from sea level up to 7500 feet. It inhabits a wide variety of plant communities, including desert, valley grassland, scrub, coniferous forests, and open woodlands. Grasslands that have been burned may exhibit thousands of plants where none have appeared in recent years. It is a member of the lily family. These photos were taken on the Hieroglyphic Trail on February 25, 2016.

Wild Cucumber (Marah gilensis) also called Gila Manroot, is a native perennial growing in desert, upland, and riparian habitat in sandy washes and streams within woody thickets.. This plant grows along washes and streams, typically under mesquite trees or large shrubs. Flower color is cream to greenish white in the spring. It is a vine with coiling tendrils twining to 6 feet tall or more. The flowers are 3/8 inch across and star-shaped with 5 round-tipped lobes. The flowering season is February to April and the plant grows at elevations up to 5,000 feet. The flowers are followed by round, spiny, green melons that are up to 2 inches in diameter. The leaves are hairy, shiny green, and palmately-lobed with 5 to 7 broad lobes. The stems are slender and climbing with twining tendrils. This plant grows from a very large underground tuber. Marah gilensis is rare in the United States where it is found only in Arizona and is listed as occurring in New Mexico.It is a member of the Cucumber or Gourd family. These photos were taken on the Deer Creek Trail on March 16, 2016.

Fiddleneck (Amsinckia menziesii) common fiddleneck is one of the common fiddlenecks of western North America. Like other members of the genus, it has a terminal flowering whorl somewhat shaped like the head of a violin or fiddle, hence the name fiddleneck. The flowers are yellow-orange, orange, or dark yellow. It is found at elevations of up to 5500 feet. Height is 8-24 inches. The inflorescence is spike-like with a coiled tip. It has stiff hairs on the stems and leaves. The sharp hairs of the plants can cause skin irritation in humans. Flowers are 5 petals sometimes with red/orange marks. The orange spots on the inside are reported to be a distinction between var intermedia, which has the orange, and var. menzieii, which does not. There are 10 species in the Amsinckia (Fiddleneck) genus in the United States, most of which are western species. Fiddleneck is in the Borage family. These photos were taken on the Kelvin AZ Trail Wildflower Hike March 11, 2016.

Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata) is a short-lived perennial characterized by individual florets arranged in dense heads making the floret group look like one single flower. On the marigold the clusters form a head 2 inches in diameter and are bright yellow in color. Bloom time is Mar through November. The leaves are green with silver-white hairs, alternate, narrowly oval in shape, pinnately-lobed and grow very low on the thick stems. A grayish, woolly plant, branched and leafy mostly in the lower half with flowers in heads one at the end of each of the flower stalks. These plants can be found growing on sandy or gravelly soils of roadsides, plains, washes, mesas, and pinyon-juniper communities below 5,000 feet in elevation. They can grow to be 1-2 feet tall and 2 feet across. The name Marigold comes from “Mary’s Gold,” in honor of the Virgin Mary. It is a member of the sunflower family. These photos were taken on the Kelvin AZ Trail Wildflower Hike March 11, 2016.

Paintbrush (Castilleja integra) grows in oak and pine woodlands in the mountains at elevations from 3000 to 7500 feet. Flowers are scarlet red, orange, and rarely yellow. It grows to a height of up to 16 inches tall. The mostly green, floral tubes are surrounded by hairy, red, orange, or yellow, petal-like bracts that are either not toothed or lobed or shallowly cleft at the tip with erect, pointed teeth. The leaves are green and hairless or almost hairless above, paler green and densely covered with woolly, matted hairs below. The leaves are alternate, simple (undivided), without tooths, and linear in shape with curled-up margins. The usually multiple stems are stout, often woody at the base, and covered with flat, matted, woolly, grayish white hairs. The plants are partial root parasites of nearby plants. It is a member of the figwort family. These photos were taken on the Tony's Cabin Trail on March 4, 2016.

Cream Cups Poppy (Platystemon arizonicus) is an annual herb that is quite variable in appearance that often grows in moist, sandy ground at the edges of desert washes. The plant is hairy in texture, sometimes with very long hairs. The inflorescence is a single flower on a tall stem up to 12 inches high. The solitary flowers are 1 inch wide and have three sepals and six petals, which may be pure white or golden or white with large gold spots or gold tips. The center of the flower is filled with a tuft-like cluster of many thick, flattened stamens. Flowering time is March–May. The oppositely arranged leaves are 3/4 to 3 inches long, and are linear, lanceolate, or oblong. It grows in open grasslands and sandy soils at elevations below 3300 feet. These photos were taken on the Deer Creek Trail on March 16, 2016.

Cleftleaf Wildheliotrope (Phacelia crenulata) flower color is purple to violet-blue and the flowering season is March to May. Height of the plant is 18 to 24 inches. The hairy flower clusters are coiled like a scorpion's tail, tend to grow on one side only, facing upwards. The flowers are formed of five, partly fused lobes, five thin stamens about half an inch in length (twice as long as the lobes), yellow-brown anthers and one style. The leaves are green, have hairs with an enlarged gland at the tip, undivided, rounded to elongated in shape, up to 4 inches long and lobed or scalloped (crenulate). The crushed leaves smell like onions and can produce a rash if touched. Leaves are found mostly around the base. The stems are reddish, hairy, and sticky. The similar Distant Phacelia (Phacelia distans) has divided leaves. Its alternative name of notch-leaved phacelia refers to the deep lobes along its elongated, dark green foliage. Habitat is washes, hillsides, sandy or gravelly locations, desert plains; up to 7,000 feet elevation.

Prairie Spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis) is a native Arizona perennial. Flower color is blue to violet, pink to magenta, flowering from April to September. It grows to a height of 3 feet. The flowers are up to 1 inch wide and have 3 broad, triangular petals with pointed tips and hairy stamen filaments. The flowers are in clusters on tips of branches, have 6 stamens with distinctive yellow anthers. Blooms last a day and the flowers close early. The leaves clasp the stems and are long, green, linear, folded, and grass-like. It grows at an elevation of from 2,500 to 7,000 feet. Habitat preferences are sandy soils in various habitat types of the upper Sonoran desert but mostly found in higher elevations with woodlands. It is a member of the Spiderwort Family. These photos were taken on the Kelvin AZ Trail Wildflower Hike March 11, 2016.

Western Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum) grows in low elevation shrublands, mountain brush, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine, aspen, Douglas fir, and spruce-fir to alpine communities. in open, sunny areas with well-drained or sandy soil. Flower color is orange, yellow, red, cream, and rarely lavender to purplish. The individual flowers are about an inch wide and have 4 oval to egg-shaped petals and 4 narrowly oblong sepals. The flowers are in dense clusters on the terminal tip of the stem. Flowering season is March to September in Arizona at elevations of from 2,500 to 9,500 feet. It grows to a height of up to 4 feet with stems that are erect, and the plants often have only a single main stem. The leaves are green, alternate, toothed or not, and linear to spoon-shaped. There are 21 species of Erysimum throughout North America with 4 species in Arizona. The wallflower portion of the common name is taken from a relative that grows against stone walls in Europe. It is a member of the Mustard family. These photos were taken on the Deer Creek Trail on March 16, 2016.