Common name:
Yellow bristle flax
Scientific name:
Linum aristatum
Range:
From southern Utah to west Texas
Habitat:
Saguebrush, pinyon-juniper woodland, open, sandy places, from 4,000 to 10,000 feet
Leaves:
Linear, narrow, at most 0.8 inches long and less than 0.1 inches wide, glabrous, with entire edges
Identifying features of linum aristatum include the fused rather than separate styles, the glandular teeth along the sepal edges, and the sepal tips, which taper smoothy to a brown bristle. The five sepals are narrowly lanceolate in shape, greenish or reddish, with lighter margins, and about a third of an inch long. Petals are slightly longer, yellow to orange-yellow, obovate, sometimes flushed with red at the base. Upper petal margins are slightly uneven. Stamens are yellow, the styles yellow and the spherical stigmas greenish-yellow.
The very narrow, grass-like leaves are linear, opposite at spreading at the top of the stem, otherwise alternate and ascending, or appressed. Stems are much branched, rigid, and hairless.