Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
McElmo Canyon, Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, March 27, 2005.

Down on your belly to appreciate Lappula marginata.  Flowers are no more than a speck of blue or white; soft, minutely, hairy leaves and stems have a tint of maroon; and stem leaves are cupped and nearly vertical.  Numerous flowers deck various angles of Lappula marginata.  Where you find one plant, you will usually find many and they often will be growing in the same habitat as their Boraginaceae cousin, Oreocarya (Cryptantha).  This is an introduced species found in the Four Corners counties of Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, but not yet found in Utah.  The native species of this genera, L. occidentalis is shown below.

"Lapp" is Latin for "bur" and perhaps "marginata" refers to the inward folded margins of the leaves.

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
McElmo Canyon, Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, March 27, 2005.

Semi-desert. Openings. Spring.
McElmo Canyon, Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, March 27, 2005.

Inflated margins of the nutlets are horse-collar works of art.  Everyone "oohs" and "ahhs" when they look at these nutlets though a hand lens.

Semi-desert, foothills, montane. Openings. Spring.
Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, New Mexico, April 11, 2007.

The Anasazi surely found these early spring flowers leaning against these same Chaco walls.  This Lappula grows to sixteen inches tall, as here, branches often, flowers copiously, and is covered in fine hairs.

The plant was first named Echinospermum redowskii variety occidentalis by Sereno Watson in the late 1800s and was given its present name by Edward Greene in 1899.

Semi-desert, foothills, montane. Openings. Spring.
Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, New Mexico, April 11, 2007.

Flowers are blue-white, numerous, and no more than a quarter inch tall and wide.

Semi-desert, foothills, montane. Openings. Spring.
Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, New Mexico, April 11, 2007.
Fisher Tower Trail, Utah, April 15, 2008.

The anemone-like seeds will dry and be carried away on animal fur and human clothing.