Semi-desert. Sand. Spring.
East of Bluff, Utah, May3, 2007.

This exquisitely dainty plant thrives in dry, sandy areas of the Four Corners.  It grows four to twelve inches tall and is covered with both coarse and fine hairs, the latter bent backwards and giving rise to its specific epithet, "retrorsum", Latin for "bent backward".

The Latin genus name given by Linnaeus in 1753 means "a spring" and refers to the moist habitat of some species.  J. T. Howell named and described Nama retrorsum which he and Alice Eastwood found near Tuba City, Arizona in 1949 when Alice was about 90 years old.

Semi-desert. Sand. Spring.
East of Bluff, Utah, May3, 2007.

Various length hairs cover the plant and some are sticky enough to hold the sand particles seen glistening on the floral tube.