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| Gilia capitata |
| Family: Polemoniaceae (Phlox) |
| Flowers — color: blue, size: 1/2", type: 5 petals |
Blue Field Gilia has tubular flower with five flaring petals about 1/2" wide. The colors here are light blue or lavender, with a fine web of darker color visible on the petals. Five pale blue or white disk-shaped anthers sit on white stamens above the flower's throat. The long narrow pistil splits into three curving tips. There may be variation on these details: this gilia has eight recognized subspecies.
Flowers bloom from a spherical head containing 10–100 buds.
Habit:
Blue Field Gilia is an erect annual. Its green or reddish stems rise 6–24 inches, have fine white hair, and larger specimens will branch. The compound leaves are composed of multiple spiny leaflets about a millimeter wide. The leaflets have a central vein and larger ones nearer the base have sidelobes.
The flowers and stem resemble blue dicks, poking up through the grass, but the clusters are larger and the stems have a few visible leaves. California Gilia has similar form and flower, but its cluster is smaller and more discrete. Sunny grassy areas.
Observations:
I found these on a blooming hillside south of Burton Mesa Rd.