Bougainvillea glabra, the lesser bougainvillea or paperflower, is the most common species of bougainvillea used for bonsai. The epithet 'glabra' comes from Latin and means "bald".
Brandegea is a monotypic genus containing the single species Brandegea bigelovii, the desert starvine. This sprawling perennial vine in the squash family is native to the deserts of California, Arizona, and northern Mexico. The distinctive small, dark-green leaves are variable in shape but are usually a deeply lobed long-fingered palmate shape. They are heavily speckled with white oil glands. The vine bears tendrils, tiny five-pointed white flowers only 2 or 3 millimeters wide, and small, dry, prickly fruits 5 or 6 millimeters in length and holding a single seed. The plant grows from a deep taproot.
Eriodictyon tomentosum is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name woolly yerba santa. It is endemic to California, where it grows on the slopes of the central coast ranges.
Eriogonum brachypodum is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name Parry's buckwheat. This annual herb is native to the southwestern United States from California to Utah and especially the Mojave Desert. It grows in sandy and gravelly substrates. It has a skeletonlike spindly stem which branches many times. It can grow 5 to 50 centimeters in height and up to a meter in width. There is an array of rounded, dark-colored leaves around the base. Leaves are a few centimeters long and fuzzy on the undersides. Most of the plant is actually the spreading inflorescence. At intervals on the otherwise naked branches hang tiny clusters of glandular flowers a few millimeters wide in involucres of bell-shaped bracts. Each flower is less than three millimeters wide.
Euphorbia spathulata is a species of spurge known by the common names warty spurge and roughpod spurge.
Chorizanthe staticoides is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family known by the common name Turkish rugging. It is endemic to California, where it is a common member of the flora in the chaparral and scrub habitats in a number of regions.
Ammannia coccinea is a species of flowering plant in the loosestrife family known by several common names, including valley redstem, scarlet toothcup, and purple ammannia. It is native to most of the contiguous United States, with the exception of the Pacific Northwest and New England. It is generally found in moist areas, such as riverbanks and pond margins. It is weedy in some areas. This is an annual herb growing erect to heights approaching one meter or lying along the ground. Leaves are linear in shape, up to 8 centimeters long, and green to shades of deep red in color. The inflorescence is a cluster of 3 to 5 flowers growing in the leaf axils along the upper part of the stem. The rounded flower has small rose to lavender petals each a few millimeters long and protruding stamens with yellow anthers. The fruit is a rounded capsule up to half a centimeter wide containing many tiny seeds.
Cercocarpus ledifolius var. intricatus is a variety of Cercocarpus ledifolius that is commonly known as little-leaf mountain mahogany.
Euphorbia melanadenia is a species of Euphorbia known by the common name red-gland spurge. It is native to the deserts and mountains of Baja California and southern California and Arizona, where it grows in dry, rocky habitat. It is a perennial herb forming a small clump or mat of very slender, tangling red stems. The stems are lined with pairs of slightly woolly oval-shaped leaves 2 to 9 millimeters wide. The tiny inflorescence is a cyathium less than 2 millimeters wide. The cyathium is a bell-shaped array of white, scalloped petal-like appendages surrounding the actual flowers. Each appendage has at its base a shiny red nectar gland. At the center of the appendages is a ring of male staminate flowers around a single female flower. The female flower develops into an oval-shaped fruit which bears wrinkled white seeds.
Euphorbia serpyllifolia is a species of euphorb known by the common names thymeleaf sandmat or thyme-leafed spurge. It is native to a large part of North America from Canada to Mexico, where it is a common member of the flora in many types of habitat. This is an annual herb growing as a prostrate mat or taking a somewhat erect form. The oblong leaves are up to about 1.5 centimeters long, sometimes hairy and finely toothed along the edges. The tiny inflorescence is a cyathium about a millimeter wide. It bears scalloped white petal-like appendages arranged around the actual flowers. At the center are several male flowers and one female flower, which develops into a lobed, oval fruit up to 2 millimeters wide. This plant had a number of traditional medicinal uses for many Native American groups.
Euphorbia setiloba is a species of euphorb known by the common name Yuma sandmat. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in dry habitat. This is a small, clumping annual herb with slender stems lined with pairs of tiny hairy leaves. Each leaf is just a few millimeters long and oval in shape with a bluntly pointed tip. The minute inflorescence is a cyathium less than two millimeters wide. It has distinctive appendages which are white with a few narrow, sharp-pointed lobes. There is a red nectar gland at the base of each. At the center of the appendages are the actual flowers, one female and several male. The ovary of the female flower develops into a hairy, spherical fruit about a millimeter wide.
Eucrypta micrantha is a species of flowering plant in the waterleaf family known by the common name dainty desert hideseed.
Linanthus maculatus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names San Bernardino Mountain gilia and Little San Bernardino Mountains gilia. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from a few locales in the Little San Bernardino Mountains and the adjacent Palm Springs area in the northern end of the Coachella Valley. The largest populations, which may contain thousands of individuals, are located within the bounds of Joshua Tree National Park. This is a very small annual herb no more than three centimeters high. It has a taproot which may exceed 6 centimeters in length to collect moisture from the dry desert sand in its native habitat. The tiny, hairy stem branches to form small matted clusters on the sand surface. The hairy leaves are just a few millimeters long and unlobed. The inflorescence is a dense cluster of flowers each only 2 to 5 millimeters wide. The flower corolla has curled-back lobes which are white, sometimes with a spot of purple or pink. The protruding stamens are yellow. The main threat to this species is development in its range, and it is also vulnerable to off-road vehicle damage in the wide open sandy flats where it grows.
Hesperevax acaulis is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name stemless dwarf cudweed. It is native to California and Oregon where it grows in many types of mountain, valley, and coastal habitats, including areas recently affected by wildfire. This petite woolly annual forms a small bunch on the ground. Despite its common name it sometimes has a stem a few centimeters long. The wool-coated leaves appear in pairs or clusters, each leaf measuring a few millimeters to three centimeters long. In the center of the leaf array is the inflorescence, which is a single flower head or tightly packed cluster of several heads, each just a few millimeters wide. The flower head contains several tiny disc florets.
Limosella acaulis is a species of flowering plant in the figwort family known by the common name Owyhee mudwort. It is native to western North America from the Pacific Northwest to northern Mexico, where it grows in many types of muddy habitat next to water, such as pond edges. It is a fleshy annual herb forming low mats in muddy substrate. The flattened leaves are linear to strap-shaped to spoon-shaped and up to 6 centimeters long. The inflorescence is an erect stalk bearing one white to pale lavender flower just a few millimeters wide. The fruit is a capsule up to 5 millimeters wide containing many tiny seeds.
Micropus amphibolus is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Mount Diablo cottonseed. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the San Francisco Bay Area and nearby mountains, growing in open, rocky habitat. It is an annual herb similar in appearance to its relative, Micropus californicus, called the "Q-tips". It produces one or more small, erect stems coated thinly in wispy, webby fibers. The inflorescence is a spherical flower head a few millimeters wide which resembles a tiny cotton boll since the flowers and maturing fruits are very woolly.
Minuartia pusilla is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names annual sandwort and dwarf stitchwort.
Phacelia cookei is a rare species of phacelia known by the common name Cooke's phacelia. It is endemic to Siskiyou County, California, where it is known from just a few occurrences in the forest and scrub around Mount Shasta. The substrate in the area is sandy, ashy volcanic soil.
Plagiobothrys bracteatus is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name bracted popcornflower.
Plagiobothrys shastensis is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Shasta popcornflower. It is native to southern Oregon and northern California, where it grows in grassland, woodland, and other types of habitat. It is an annual herb growing erect to about 30 centimeters in maximum height. It is coated in hairs. The leaves are located in a basal rosette with a few arranged alternately along the stem. The inflorescence is a straight branch holding paired flowers, rarely coiling at the tip as many other Plagiobothrys do. Each tiny white flower has a five-lobed corolla no more than 3 millimeters wide. The fruit is a cross-shaped nutlet 2 or 3 millimeters wide divided in half by a rough scar.
