The
photo at right shows ground nama as seen along Domingo
Pass Rd in the Pueblo Mts of southeastern Oregon..........May 27, 2000.
Also known as ground nama, purple nama is a low, annual wildflower with prostrate stems that are typically dichotomously branched that forms mats from 4-12 cm across. The herbage of this minute wildflower typically consists of stiff spreading hairs (See the photo at right.). The linear-spatulate to oblanceolate-shaped leaves are up to 4 cm long and 6 mm wide and are often most crowded near the tips of the branches.
The flowers are solitary at the tips of the branches or in the forks of the branches. The calyx lobes are 6-7 mm long. The corolla is 8-14 mm long with a white to yellowish tube that is funnelform and bright pink to deep rose lobes from 5-12 mm wide. The style is 2-6 mm long and cleft only at the tip.
Purple nama is a plant of dry, sandy plains and hills. It is often associated with sagebrush.
Purple nama may be found to the east of the Cascade Mts. from Yakima County in central Washington south across central Oregon to Inyo County in California and east through the Snake River plains to Gooding County in Idaho.
