[I have been unhappy for years about the name Canterbury bells since that name has widely and for long been applied to members of the Campanula family, and there seems to be no obvious connection either between that family or this species and Canterbury, but I have not come up with a more satisfactory name. This plant was published by Irish botanist William Henry Harvey in 1846 under the genus name Whitlavia (named for Irish lawyer and Harvey's friend Francis Whitla, 1783-1855) as Whitlavia minor. Asa Gray in 1875 synonymized Whitlavia with Phacelia and Whitlavia minor became Phacelia minor. Another name for it is Whitlavia phacelia. And now you know (as Paul Harvey used to say) .... the rest of the story.]

Littleleaf rhatany
Krameria erecta
Krameriaceae
[Named for Johann Georg Heinrich Kramer, 1684-1744]

Yuma spurge
Euphorbia setiloba
Euphorbiaceae

Iris-leaved rush
Juncus xiphioides
Juncaceae

Star-flowered bedstraw
Galium stellatum
Rubiaceae

Ocotillo
Fouquieria splendens ssp. splendens
Fouquieriaceae
[Named for Pierre Éloi Fouquier, 1776-1850]