divaricate navarretia

Navarretia divaricata is an annual herb in the Polemoniaceae family, found in open habitats across western North America, including British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. It features a primary stem that terminates in an inflorescence head, with secondary and higher-order stems arising from the axils of leaves or bracts. The stems are tan to reddish-brown, often glabrous or sparsely glandular. Cotyledons are linear and united at the base. Leaves at lower nodes are opposite and linear-filiform, while more distal leaves are alternate and may have 1-3 lateral lobes. The inflorescences are compact, head-like structures, typically less than 10 mm in diameter. The species is characterized by its repeated branching pattern, where nearly leafless stems diverge from under flowering heads to form additional inflorescences, giving rise to the specific epithet 'divaricata'.