Plants annual; cotyledons unlobed. Flowers: receptacular cup with spreading rim often inconspicuous. 2 n = 12. Flowering mid winter-late summer (Feb-Sep). Deserts; to 2000 m; Ariz., Calif., N.Mex., Nev., Tex., Utah; Mexico (Sonora). C. T. Mason Jr. (pers. comm.) has noted several specimens from Arizona as far east as Cochise County that appear to be perennial.

PLANTS: nearly always annual, mainly 1-3.5 dm tall; seedlings with simple cotyledons. FLOWERS: outer rim 0.5-2.0 mm wide; sepals 3-8 cm long. NOTES: See also the parent taxon for further description. On mesas, bajadas, and in dry washes in Sonoran Desert scrub and desert grasslands, occasional in Chihuahuan Desert scrub and juniper-oak grasslands: all AZ cos. except: Apache, Coconino, Navajo; 300-1400 m (1000-4600 ft); Feb-May (fr. Mar-Jun); CA, NM, NV, TX, UT; Chih., Son., Mex. REFERENCES: Ownbey, Gerald B., Jeffrey W. Brasher, and Curtis Clark. 1998 Papaveraceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. 30(2): 120.