I was climbing around some boulders at dusk when I ran into this prickly plant covered with small white flowers. The next morning I returned to photograph it and could hardly find any flowers. It turns out that the Granite Prickly Phlox (Linanthus pungens) opens its flowers at night and closes them during the day! Other common names for this plant are graite gilia, prickly phlox, and mountain prickly phlox. It is also known by the scientific name Leptodactylon pungens.
It is fairly common up to 11,000 feet in sandy and rocky places, including sagebrush openings.For more information about granite prickly phlox, click here.
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