Description
Platystemon – Creamcups –
There is a sole species of erect to spreading basally branched, hairy annual in this genus. They occur from grasslands, desert margins, and chaparral in Western USA. It has almost stalkless, stem clasping, smooth edged, 3″ gray-green leaves, sometimes borne in small whorls. The leaves and young stems have a covering of fine hairs. It is grown for its short lived, 1″ diameter poppy like flowers, each with a central boss of flattened stamen filaments, borne in profusion where the climate is neither too hot nor too humid. Suitable for edging in an annual border and as massed plantings in a rock garden.
Grow this easily grown plant in very light, well drained soil in full sun.
P. californicus – This many branched, spreading annual found from California to Arizona and Utah grows 4-12″ tall and 10″ wide. It produces linear-oblong to lance shaped, densely hairy, strongly parallel veined, gray green leaves, to 3″ long. In spring it bears single, slender stemmed, 6 petaled, creamy yellow flowers, to 1″ across, great for naturalizing in a wildflower garden.
Zones 9-10
