Favoritos de metek

This small groundcover plant was not very common, in fact only a few individuals were seen on this plot of habitat. The stems were thin, purple/red, and nonwoody. The leaves were broadleaf, bright green, and "spade"-like. These grew among the beachweeds on the Beach sands.

Appears to be an acaulescent species of Gilia or compact Ipomopsis polycladon! I thought maybe it was just a deformed individual, but I looked around an the entire population is like this! I can’t seem to match it with any known species. Any ideas?

@jdmore @jdjohnson

Utah Endemic Ericameria found to be locally abundant on this heavily graffitied rock formation. You can see that some of the plants had black markings, which I think may have been insect damage. There was cheatgrass growing amongst the plants, which can be seen in the eighth photo. There were also lots of myrtle spurges in the nearby areas, but they didn't seem to be growing on the same rock that the Ericamerias were restricted to.