Linanthus is a genus of annual

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 and perennial plant

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

s in the phlox family Polemoniaceae

Polemoniaceae

Polemoniaceae are a family of about 25 genera with 270-400 species of annual and perennial plants, native to the Northern Hemisphere and South America, with the center of diversity in western North America, especially in California.Only one genus is found in Europe, and two in Asia, where they...

. The species are found in western North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and in Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, with the greatest diversity in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

The stems are erect, with multiple branches arising directly from the base, and grow 2-15 cm tall. The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are cauline and opposite, with shapes ranging from entire to palmately lobed, the 3-9 lobes being linear to lanceolate or spatulate. Flowers have a tubular calyx

Sepal

A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...

, and the corolla may be funnel- or bell-shaped, or salverform.

The genus name is from the Greek for "flax flower", the flowers superficially resembling those of flax

Flax

Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...

.

The genus has recently been split, with many of the species formerly included now transferred to the genus Leptosiphon

Leptosiphon

Leptosiphon is a genus of flowering plants in the Polemoniaceae family. Many included species were formerly classified as members of the genus Linanthus...

 (Jepson Manual).

Selected species

• Linanthus bellus
  Linanthus bellus
  Linanthus bellus is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name desert beauty. It is known only from northern Baja California and eastern San Diego County, California, where it grows in high desert chaparral in sandy soils. This is a petite annual herb...
  
   (Gray) Greene
• Linanthus bigelovii
  Linanthus bigelovii
  Linanthus bigelovii is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Bigelow's linanthus. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico where it grows mainly in dry habitat, such as the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts. This is an annual herb producing a...
  
   (A. Gray) Greene
• Linanthus concinnus
  Linanthus concinnus
  Linanthus concinnus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name San Gabriel linanthus. It is endemic to the San Gabriel Mountains in the Los Angeles area, where it occurs in dry, rocky habitat in chaparral and forest habitat. This is a small annual herb producing a...
  
   Milliken
• Linanthus demissus
  Linanthus demissus
  Linanthus demissus is a small flowering plant found in the Mojave Desert of the southwestern United States, from southeastern California east to Arizona and southern Utah....
  
   (A. Gray) Greene
• Linanthus dianthiflorus
  Linanthus dianthiflorus
  Linanthus dianthiflorus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names fringed linanthus and ground pink. It is endemic to southern California, where it can be found in many types of local open habitat, such as chaparral. This is an annual herb producing a very thin,...
  
   (Benth.) Greene
• Linanthus dichotomus
  Linanthus dichotomus
  Linanthus dichotomus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name eveningsnow. It is native to western North America, including most of the southwestern United States, where it is a common member of the flora in a number of habitat types. It is often found on the...
  
   Benth.
• Linanthus filiformis
  Linanthus filiformis
  Linanthus filiformis is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name yellow gilia. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in rocky desert and plateau habitat. This herb produces a threadlike, branching stem not more than about 15 centimeters long...
  
   (Parry ex A. Gray) J.M. Porter & L.A. Johnson
• Linanthus inyoensis
  Linanthus inyoensis
  Linanthus inyoensis is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Inyo gilia. It is native to eastern California and western Nevada, where it is a common member of the flora in several types of habitat at the western edge of the Great Basin where it meets the Sierra...
  
   (I.M.Johnst.) J.M.Porter & L.A.Johnson
• Linanthus jonesii
  Linanthus jonesii
  Linanthus jonesii is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Jones' linanthus. It is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. This is a small annual herb producing a hairy, glandular stem no more than about 15 centimeters tall,...
  
   (A. Gray) Greene
• Linanthus killipii
  Linanthus killipii
  Linanthus killipii is a rare species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Baldwin Lake linanthus. It is endemic to the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California, where it is known from only a few occurrences in the vicinity of Baldwin Lake near Big Bear...
  
   H. Mason
• Linanthus maculatus
  Linanthus maculatus
  Linanthus maculatus is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names San Bernardino Mountain gilia and Little San Bernardino Mountains gilia...
  
   (Parish) Milliken
• Linanthus orcuttii
  Linanthus orcuttii
  Linanthus orcuttii is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Orcutt's linanthus. It is known only from southern California and Baja California, where it grows in chaparral and pine forests in the Peninsular Ranges and occasionally the San Bernardino...
  
   (Parry & A. Gray) Jeps.
• Linanthus parryae
  Linanthus parryae
  Linanthus parryae is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name sandblossoms. It is endemic to California, where it is known from sandy, open habitat types in several regions from the Central Valley to the Sierra Nevada foothills to the Mojave Desert...
  
   (A. Gray) Greene
• Linanthus pungens
  Linanthus pungens
  Linanthus pungens is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names granite prickly-phlox and granite gilia. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Baja California and east to Montana and New Mexico.This plant has been called a shrub or a...
  
   (Torr.) J.M. Porter & L.A. Johnson

Species formerly treated in Linanthus, now transferred to Leptosiphon

Leptosiphon

Leptosiphon is a genus of flowering plants in the Polemoniaceae family. Many included species were formerly classified as members of the genus Linanthus...

:

• Leptosiphon acicularis
• Leptosiphon ambiguus
• Leptosiphon androsaceus
• Leptosiphon arenicola
• Leptosiphon aureus
• Leptosiphon bicolor
• Leptosiphon bolanderi
• Leptosiphon breviculus
• Leptosiphon ciliatus
• Leptosiphon filipes
• Leptosiphon floribundus
• Leptosiphon grandiflorus
• Leptosiphon harknessii
• Leptosiphon lemmonii
• Leptosiphon liniflorus
• Leptosiphon montanus
• Leptosiphon nudatus
• Leptosiphon nuttallii
• Leptosiphon oblanceolatus
• Leptosiphon pachyphyllus
• Leptosiphon parviflorus
• Leptosiphon pygmaeus
• Leptosiphon rattanii
• Leptosiphon septentrionalis
• Leptosiphon serrulatus