Angel Trumpets (Acleisanthes longiflora)

   

Overview, angel trumpets, east of El Durazno, Coahuila, Mexico. Photograph by Wynn Anderson.

 

Cleistogamous flowers, Coahuila, Mexico. Photographs by Wynn Anderson.

 

Flowers and closeup of flower, Coahuila, Mexico. Photographs by Wynn Anderson.

Image showing the length of an angel trumpet flower. Photograph by Wynn Anderson.

• Common English Names: Lance-leaf Moonpod
• Common Spanish Names: None known.
• Scientific Name: Acleisanthes longiflora (a-kly-SAN-thes lon-jih-FLOR-uh)(formerly Selinocarpus)
• Family: Nyctaginaceae (Four O'Clock Family)
• Geographic Range: Widespread, preferring calcareous areas but often accepts any disturbed soils from southeastern California and northern Sonora east through Arizona, and southern New Mexico to central and south Texas; Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Chihuahua to eastern Durango, Mexico.
• Description: Profusely branching, ascending to prostrate stems, mounding or sprawling, with lanceolate or deltate leaves and solitary or paired, long tubular white flowers up to 7 inches long.
• Notes: Displays the longest tubular white flowers of any species in the Chihuahuan Desert region. 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.

Last Update: 26 Sep 2013