Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council Plants Resource Page
Plant of the Month - Sticky Gilia, Stinky Gilia
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Plant Description
| Common Name(s): | Sticky Gilia, Stinky Gilia |
| Scientific Name: | Allophylum glutinosum |
| Family: | Polemoniaceae (Phlox) |
| Plant Type: | Annual |
| Size: | up to 18 inches |
| Habitat: | Coastal Sage |
| Blooms: | February to August |
| Fire Response: | Fire Follower |
Stinky Gilia is also known as Blue False Gilia, Sticky Gilia, Sticky false Gilia and sticky false gilyflower. The descriptive part of the name whether it is sticky or stinky describes this beautiful little flower. Run your fingers along the stem and you are bound to coat your fingers in a somewhat malodorous sticky resin. This plant can found in rocky soils of shaded slopes and is endemic to California - I found this plant in two places: Upper Sycamore Canyon Pt. Mugu State Park and Upper Solstice Canyon. Finding this plant can be a challenge because it is so tiny (about .25 of an inch). When I was showing this plant to others, most people were amazed that we found the plant at all because it was growing a few feet off the trail and the flowers are so small as to require a magnifying glass to fully appreciate. If you do find and identify this plant, consider yourself among a tiny minority of trail users appreciative of the beauty of native wildflowers.
Stinky Gilia is an Annual, tap rooted herb, and can be found spreading and scrambling over neighboring plants, the plant grows to 40 cm tall; densely glandular-hairy, the glandular hairs that look to me like bubbles with an odor some describe as skunk like. The flowers are described by botanists as growing in a cyme like array because the flowers grow on many forked stems. The leaves are considered pinnately lobed (think of what a feather is like). The plant is recognizable as a phlox because of the tubular flowers, five petals and distinctive because of the blue pollen. Variations can and often do appear, sometimes there are white anthers instead of blue - usually accompanied by a white corolla.
For any amateur Botanists reading this, Allophylum is from the Greek allos (diverse) and phyllon (leaf) and glutinosum is the botanical term for for sticky.
Sticky Gilia, Stinky Gilia - Originally featured: February 2016
Last modified: March 31 2017 21:06:05.
References:
Wildflowers of the Santa Monica Mountains, by Milt McAuleyFlowering Plants: The Santa Monica Mountains, Coastal and Chaparral Regions of Southern California, by Nancy Dale
Chumash Ethnobotany: Plant Knowledge Among the Chumash People.., by Jan Timbrook
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