Semi-desert, foothills.  Disturbed areas, openings. Spring, summer.
Corona Arch Trail, Utah, April 13, 2005.

This gorgeous miniature is actually an invasive species that grows to be a weedy aggressor of vacant lots and disturbed areas in the wild.  It starts as a minute carpet of lovely dark green leaves that have very obvious and attractive star-burst hairs.  Delicate pink and white flowers follow, but soon the plant sets in good roots, spreads, and grows to over a foot tall.  Leaves become much larger and more coarsely toothed and the tiny flowers are overshadowed by the leaves and the two or three inch long seed pods.  (See the bottom photo.)

"Malcomia" honors 18th century British nurseryman, William Malcolm.  (More biographical information.)  The plant was first named Hesperis africana by Linnaeus in 1753 and was renamed Malcolmia africana in 1812.

Semi-desert, foothills.  Disturbed areas, openings. Spring, summer.
Corona Arch Trail, Utah, April 13, 2005.

Semi-desert, foothills.  Disturbed areas, openings. Spring, summer.
Corona Arch Trail, Utah, May 4, 2005.

These are the same plants shown in the top picture --  three weeks later.  The delicate characteristics have been replaced by dense vegetation that crowds out everything else.  The upward arching thin strips are the seed pods.

Malcomia africana bears some resemblance to  Chorispora tenella, but the latter is far more wide-spread in our area, has more numerous flowers that carpet the ground in magenta, and its leaves are not coarsely toothed as are those of Malcomia africana.