Scarlet Musk Flower (Nyctaginia capitata)

   
 

Left: Overview of Scarlet Musk Flower, Floresville, Wilson County, TX. Right: Flowers and foliage, Chihuahuan Desert Gardens. Photographs by Wynn Anderson.

   

Left: Close-up of flowers, Chihuahuan Desert Gardens. Right: A different color variation, Floresville, Wilson County, TX. Photographs by Wynn Anderson.

• Common English Names: Scarlet Musk Flower
• Common Spanish Names: Yerba Blanca
• Scientific Name: Nyctaginia capitata (comb-ih-CAR-pus SCAN-dens)
• Family: Nyctaginaceae (Four O'clock Family)
• Geographic Range: Dry grassland and desertic scrub throughout the Chihuahuan Desert region from southern New Mexico and western Texas south through Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León to San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Description:
• Description: Low, sprawling herbaceous perennial, multiple branching stems branch freely from the crown of a thick, almost tuberous taproot. Leaves are fleshy, viscid and dark green but often mottled pale green above, and the prominent umbels of striking red, deep pink, or orange-red flowers are held above the foliage. The musky flower fragrance is less than pleasant.
• Landscape Usage: Seldom commercially available but can be grown from seed on coarse, well-draining soil in full sun with plenty of space. Goes to ground with first frost but returns from tuberous roots in late spring. The various reddish hues of the flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds.
• Notes: As with many species of the Four-O'clock Family, this plant can have either or both visible pollinator attracting chasmogamous flowers and small, greenish self-fertilizing cleistogamous flowers hidden among the foliage.