[Illustration: Amsinckia tessellata]
Common names: FIDDLENECK
Arizona desert: (_Amsinckia intermedia_). Yellow. Spring.
California desert: (_Amsinckia tessellata_). Yellow. Spring.
Borage family. Size: Bristly erect herbs, 8 to 18 inches.
An annual of the Creosotebush belt, and very abundant on gravelly or
sandy soils in dry, open places, Fiddleneck is found from western New
Mexico to California and north to eastern Washington.
_A. tessellata_ occurs also in Chile and Argentina. Plants are reported
to make good spring forage where they grow in heavy stands, but
indications have been found that cirrhosis of the liver may result in
cattle, sheep and horses that eat the nutlets.
Following moist winters, Fiddleneck is often so abundant as to form vast
fields of yellow or orange-yellow blossoms, especially on the Mohave
Desert in southern California.
The curling habit of the opening flower heads somewhat resembles the
neck of a violin, hence the name.