flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
in the
borage family
Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees, and herbs in 146 to 154 genera with a worldwide distribution.
The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the order ...
known by several common names, including desert Christmas tree, scaly-stemmed sand plant, and purple sand food. As the name implies, the loaf-like part of the root is edible. It is native to northwestern Mexico,
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
and southern
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, where it grows in many habitat types, including desert,
chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...
, and sandy coastal
dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...
s. It is a fleshy perennial herb taking a compact cylindrical or ovate shape up to 20 or 30 centimeters tall above ground, often with part of the stem below the sandy surface. It is a
parasitic plant
A parasitic plant is a plant that derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant. They make up about 1% of angiosperms and are found in almost every biome. All Parasite, parasitic plants develop a specialized organ ...
growing on the roots or of various
shrub
A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...
Yerba Santa ''Yerba santa'' or ''hierba santa'' (), meaning "sacred herb" in Spanish, can refer to:
*Hoja santa
''Piper auritum'' is an aromatic culinary herb in the pepper family Piperaceae, which grows in tropical Central America. Common names include () ...
rabbitbrush
Rabbitbrush is a common name for shrubs, principally of the western United States, in three related genera of the family Asteraceae:
* ''Chrysothamnus'' — about seven species in the United States, including Greene's rabbitbrush
* ''Ericameri ...
, and
ragweed
Ragweeds are flowering plants in the genus ''Ambrosia'' in the aster family, Asteraceae. They are distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, especially North America,Arizona Game & Fish Fact Sheet /ref> As a
heterotroph
A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...
which derives its nutrients from other plants, it lacks
chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words (, "pale green") and (, "leaf"). Chlorophyll allows plants to absorb energy ...
and is brownish-gray or whitish in color. There are hairy, glandular, pointed leaves along the surface of the plant. Flowers emerge between them, each roughly one centimeter wide, the rounded corolla lavender to deep or bright purple with a white margin.