Carnegiea gigantea, Giant Saguaro

Southwest Desert Flora

Home to the plants of the Sonoran, Chihuahuan and Mojave Deserts

Cirsium ochrocentrum, Yellowspine Thistle

Aliciella latifolia, Broad-leaf Gily-flower

Aliciella latifolia, Broad-leaf Gily-flowerAliciella latifolia, Broad-leaf Gily-flowerAliciella latifolia, Broad-leaf Gily-flowerAliciella latifolia, Broad-leaf Gily-flowerAliciella latifolia, Broad-leaf Gily-flower

Scientific Name: Aliciella latifolia
Common Name: Broad-leaf Gily-flower
Also Called: Broad-leaved Gilia, Broadleaf Gilia
Family: Polemoniaceae, Jacob’s Ladder or Phlox Family
Synonyms: (Gilia latifolia, Gilia latifolia var. imperialis)
Status: Native
Duration: Annual
Size: Up to 12 inches more or less.
Growth Form: Forb/herb; stems glandular (see photos above).
Leaves: Greens, leaves also glandular, soft hairs, leaves simple, oblong-ovate, dentate (sharply few-toothed) or shallow lobes.
Flower Color: Pink, pink-purple; inflorescence open cymose panicle, sub-sessile or with pedicel, calyx glandular, calyx lobes equal to or longer than the corolla tube, corolla funnel-form, fruit a capsule, numerous seeds.
Flowering Season: March to April.
Elevation: Up to 2,000 feet.

Habitat Preferences: Deserts, washes, rocky hillsides in Creosote Bush communities most particularly in desert varnish.

Recorded Range: Aliciella latifolia is found in the southwest United States in AZ, CA, NV and UT. The primary range for this species is in southeast California. In Arizona it has a non-contiguous distribution. It is found in Mohave, Yuma and Apache counties. Aliciella latifolia is also found in northern Baja California and northern Mexico.

North America & US County Distribution Map for Aliciella latifolia.

U.S. Weed Information: No information available.
Invasive/Noxious Weed Information: No information available.
Wetland Indicator: No information available.
Threatened/Endangered Information: No information available.

Genus Information: 20 species in Aliciella in North America, primarily throughout the west ½ of the United States. 7 species in Arizona and New Mexico, 8 species in California and 0 (no) species in Texas.

The Plant List includes 21 accepted species names for Aliciella.

2 sub-species in Aliciella latifolia:
Aliciella latifolia subsp. imperialis, Broadleaf Gilia (UT)
Aliciella latifolia subsp. latifolia, Broadleaf Gilia (AZ, CA, NV, UT)

Comments: Aliciella latifolia was originally classified in the genus Gilia. Broad-leaf Gily-flower is mostly a Mojave Desert species, less common in the Sonoran Desert.

Date Profile Completed: 05/05/2016, updated format 09/30/2017
References:
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service on-line database and USGS ITIS search (accessed 05/05/2016).
http://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=display&classid=ALICI
Arizona Flora, Kearney, Thomas H., Peebles, Robert H., 1960, University of California Press, Berkley and Los Angeles, California, as Gilia latifolia.
The Plant List (2013). Version 1.1. Published on the Internet; http://www.theplantlist.org/ (accessed 05/05/2016).
http://www.theplantlist.org/1.1/browse/A/Polemoniaceae/Aliciella/#statistics
Dieter H. Wilken and J. Mark Porter, 2005, Vascular Plants of Arizona: Polemoniaceae. CANOTIA 1: 1-37.
SEINet for synonyms, scientific names, recorded geographic locations and general information
http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/.