Trailing Windmills
Allionis incarnata
Family: Nyctaginaceae
Trainling windmills are unusual in their blooms, which actually consist of three separate flowers appearing to be a single flower. The plants are finely pubescent annuals (if they don’t get much resources like water) or perennials, with trailing stems up to about 3’ in length, often threading through other vegetation. Purple to pinkish flowers in spring through fall.
Full sun, moderate water. Reseeds readily.
The Navajo make a cold infusion of the root and use it as a lotion for swellings.
Trailing windmills is an excellent nectar plant, attracting all sorts of pollinators, especially butterflies. In South America this species is a host for Hyles annei, a sphinx moth.
Photo by Max Licher, SEINET
Allionia incarnata on iNaturalist
The genus, Allionia, honors Carlo Allioni (1725-1804), an Italian botanist; the species name, incarnata, means flesh-colored, alluding to the pink flowers.
Found in sandy or rocky soil; below 6,000 ft. throughout North America, the West Indies, Central America, and South America.
A closely related species, Allionia choisyi, is more restricted in North America, occurring only in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. The two species can only be reliably distinguished by characteristics of their fruits, and even those may be found intergraded where the species' ranges overlap.