Desert Dandelions in Anza-Borrego

Our second stop on the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park wildflowerpalooza trip after checking out the desert sunflowers was on Di Georgio Road to see the desert dandelions (Malacothrix glabrata) blooming all over the place. Two years earlier the famous desert super bloom happened, but we were still pretty darn impressed for our first visit.

Zoe’s super easy to take pretty much anywhere including the desert, but who wouldn’t want to look at mountains, wildflowers, dead man-made lakes and strange monuments plus go swimming every day at the pool.

Here’s some more information about these cool plants from Wikipedia, since I can’t think of anything else to say, except that I wish my legs and armpits were “glabrata”:

Malacothrix glabrata (smooth desert dandelion or desert dandelion) is an annual plant in the sunflower family (Asteraceae).^[1] It is common to the southwestern deserts of North America and has showy pale-yellow to white flowers.^[1] The name “glabrata” refers to the leaves being (nearly) hairless.^[1] Like other members of its genus, it has a milky sap and flower heads composed of smaller strap-like flowers called “ligules“.^[1]

The species is native to the western United States, excluding much of the Pacific Northwest, and into northern Mexico. It is a dicot.

M. glabrata is typically 5 to 15 inches (13 to 38 cm) tall with a 1.5-to-2.5-inch (3.8 to 6.4 cm) flower head. Its fragrant, daisy-like flower heads are in shades of yellow or white, and flower heads may have an orange to red “button” in the center of the flower head, composed of several immature flowers.^[2]

We had to put Max down back in December 2020. He was 16. It was horrible and I miss him every day. He used to snuggle with me under the covers every night when I’d wake up at 2AM. It was like clockwork, he’d notice me wake up, walk over to my side of the bed and wait for me to hold the covers up for him to jump in. Thanks for reading!