Desert candle (Caulanthus inflatus). aroid's excellent photos of this amazing flower were actually my primary motivation for going to Carrizo, so I was thrilled to actually find some. This was only a very small patch, growing on a vertiginous slope that required some delicate butt-sliding.
Caulanthus is a genus of plants in the mustard family. Plants of this genus may be known as jewelflowers. They are also often referred to as wild cabbage, although this common name usually refers to wild variants of Brassica oleraceae, the cabbage plant. Jewelflowers are native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where they are often found in warm, arid regions. Many species have an enlarged, erect stem rising from a basal rosette of...
