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Desert DawnMoth Penstemon (Penstemon Ambiguus)*** in the Coyote Buttes. The desert winds drag the grasstips across the sand. Animals leave their tracks nightly and the winds obliterate them during the day. Paria River Wilderness Area, Northern Arizona, taken a few minutes after dawn June 28, 1997. A ninety minute walk on slickrock in full moonlight preceded the taking of this photo. |
*** Penstemon ambiguus is the real name--I did NOT make this name up. Closer inspection shows that each bilaterally symmetrical flower has an upper lip of two lobes and a lower lip of three lobes. NOT like the radially symmetrical Phlox longifolia that it resembles. Peterson's guide to Southwestern and Texas Wildflowers bears this out.
Even more information on this little flower: Medicinal Plants of the SW: Penstemon Ambiguus, courtesy of New Mexico State University. ©1998 Jeffrey Wong