Gilia Explained

Gilia is a genus of flowering plants in the Polemoniaceae family and is related to phlox.^[1] It includes 39 species native to the Americas, ranging from British Columbia to Texas and northern Mexico, and to Ohio, in North America, and from Ecuador and Peru to southern Chile and Argentina in South America. These Western native plants are best sown in sunny, well-draining soil in the temperate and tropical regions of the Americas, where they occur mainly in desert or semi-desert habitats

They are summer annuals, rarely perennials, growing to 10 - 120 cm tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, usually pinnate (rarely simple), forming a basal rosette in most species. The flowers are produced in a panicle, with a five-lobed corolla, which can be blue, white, pink or yellow.

Gilia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Schinia aurantiaca and Schinia biundulata (the latter feeds exclusively on G. cana).

Species

39 species are accepted.

• Gilia achilleifolia – California gilia
• Gilia aliquanta – Puffcalyx gilia
• Gilia angelensis – Chaparral gilia
• Gilia austrooccidentalis – Southwestern gilia
• Gilia brecciarum – Nevada gilia
• Gilia cana – Showy gilia
• Gilia capitata – Bluehead gilia / globe gilia
• Gilia clivorum – Purplespot gilia
• Gilia clokeyi – Clokey's gilia
• Gilia crassifolia
• Gilia diegensis – Coastal gilia
• Gilia flavocincta – Lesser yellowthroat gilia
• Gilia inconspicua – Shy gilia
• Gilia interior – Inland gilia
• Gilia karenae
• Gilia lacinata
• Gilia latiflora – Hollyleaf gilia
• Gilia latimeri
• Gilia leptantha – Fineflower gilia
• Gilia lomensis
• Gilia lyndana
• Gilia malior – Scrub gilia
• Gilia mexicana – El Paso gilia
• Gilia millefoliata – Manyleaf gilia
• Gilia minor – Little gilia
• Gilia modocensis – Modoc gilia
• Gilia nevinii – Nevin's gilia
• Gilia ochroleuca – Volcanic gilia
• Gilia ophthalmoides – Eyed gilia
• Gilia salticola – Salt gilia
• Gilia scopulorum – Rock gilia
• Gilia sinuata – Rosy gilia
• Gilia stellata – Star gilia
• Gilia tenuiflora – Greater yellowthroat gilia
• Gilia transmontana – Transmontane gilia
• Gilia tricolor – Bird's-eye gilia
• Gilia tweedyi – Tweedy's gilia
• Gilia valdiviensis
• Gilia yorkii – Boyden Cave gilia

Formerly placed here

Partial list:

• Aliciella micromeria – Great Basin gilia (as Gilia micromeria)
• Bryantiella palmeri (as Gilia palmeri)
• Giliastrum stewartii – Stewart's gilia (as Gilia stewartii)
• Microgilia minutiflora (as Gilia minutiflora)

References

• Flora of Chile: Gilia (pdf file)

Notes and References

1. Book: Sunset Western Garden Book . 1988 . Lane Pub. Co . 0-376-03891-8 . 5th . Menlo Park, CA . 20930439.