Gilia millefoliata

Gilia is a very small and inconspicuous plant that grows in meadows. There are several species in the genus, the one we'll look at today is called Gilia millefoliata, which translates literally as "thousand leaves" gilia. It grows in sand dunes habitat along the coastlines. The flowers are usually blue but very small though the stem can reach 5 or more inches. The stems are fuzzy. The leaves are similar to yarrow leaves. In fact common yarrow is known as Achillea millefolium.

Gilia is part of the phlox family (Polemoniaceae), together with such genera as polemonium (Jacob's ladder) and phlox. Do not confuse phlox with flax, which belongs to a different family (Linaceae).

Some time ago we went to plant exhibit and there were among others various species of phlox family. Well, one can hardly tell them apart. Just looking through my archives, there were such species as linanthus, collomia, phlox, the only difference being that some flowers were pink and some were white. I was not able to find any of them in the wild to give you pictures.

But we do have some good pictures of gilia. So here goes:

 Gilia millefoliata

The view of the flower from above:

 Gilia millefoliata

And just for fun along the same trail I happened to notice some yarrow so you can see the similarity in leaves. Millefoliata in gilia obviously does not apply to petals as there are only five of them therefore it must refer to pinnate (feather-like) leaves.

 Achillea millefolium