Broad-flowered gilia is an erect, many-stemmed annual growing to a height of some 12" and having stems that are glabrous and glaucous at the base and somewhat glandular above.  There are both basal and cauline leaves, the basal in a rosette of pinnately toothed or lobed leaves to 2-3/4" long, ± cobwebby, and the cauline few and much reduced, clasping and tapered.  The flowers have a slightly glandular calyx and a five-lobed corolla, showy and fragrant, with lobes that are mostly white to pink with darker pink-tinged outer edges, sometimes a darker pink throughout.  The tube is slender, the throat is expanded, and both are well exserted beyond the calyx.  The stamens are unequal, with the longest being somewhat exserted, and the style is longer than the stamens.  The fruit is a capsule to 1/4" long.  Broad-flowered gilia grows in sandy soils of washes, creosote bush scrub and joshua tree woodland, from 2500' to 4000' in the Mojave Desert.  It blooms from April to May.  These pictures were taken in the Antelope Valley along the north base of the San Gabriels.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Gilia 2) latiflora.
Peonunciation: JEE-lee-a la-ti-FLOR-a
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.