Flower & Seed

I don't know the name of this tiny, nettly flower other than to call it a 'popcorn' flower. (I could look it up, I suppose). They are very small and even in large numbers are easily overlooked.

 Tight cropping shows the nettles are sometimes bigger than the flower itself.

This cattail seed head was well over one foot long. I broke it open a little bit.  

Coulter's Lupine blooming at Echo Canyon.

Closer up...

Brittle bush looks like it is growing on the rock.

Closer up you can see the large crack they are growing in.

And a closer shot of the flowers.  Related to the sunflower, each flower head has numerous flowers on it.

Seed of the desert broom all ready to fly off to start new brooms.

Chuparosa bush is often visited by hummingbirds, but this one only had bees buzzing around.

Greythorn fruit beginning to ripen.

Brittlebush

Give them water and brittlebush can grow into a pretty large shrub, but normally it doesn't get much bigger than 3' x 3'. The flowers grow on long, thin stalks atop the plant. The flowers are some of the larger desert wildflowers and usually quite numerous on any given bush.

You can see how thin the stalks are here.

And a closer look:

Almost forgot to mention; the name 'brittlebush' is due to the brittle nature of the branches which snap off easily.