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Oryctes nevadensis
Also called Oryctes
Nevada oryctes is a rare, small annual herb in the nightshade family, the only species in its genus, found in deep sand desert on the California-Nevada border. It is an ephemeral wildflower that appears only in years with the right rain and temperatures, so it is not a practical garden plant.
Oryctes is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family containing the single species Oryctes nevadensis, which is known by the common name Nevada oryctes. This rare plant is native to a small area of desert straddling the California - Nevada border, where it grows in habitat with deep sand. It is difficult to estimate its abundance because the plant is only seen in years with certain rainfall amounts and temperature ranges. This is a small annual herb growing from a taproot and producing sticky, scaly foliage, growing up to about 20 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves are 1 to 3 centimeters long, linear in shape to oval and divided into lobes, sometimes wavy along the edges. The inflorescences are umbels of a few tiny flowers each, emerging from leaf axils. The flower is purplish and rounded into an urn shape, measuring a few millimeters wide.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Oryctes nevadensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
