For Scarlet Gilia, formerly placed in this genus, see Ipomopsis aggregata.

Gilia is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of between 25 and 50 species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family Polemoniaceae

Polemoniaceae

Polemoniaceae are a family of about 25 genera with 270-400 species of annual and perennial plants, native to the Northern Hemisphere and South America, with the center of diversity in western North America, especially in California.Only one genus is found in Europe, and two in Asia, where they...

, native to temperate and tropical regions of the Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

, from the western United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 south to northern Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, where they occur mainly in desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

 or semi-desert habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s.

They are herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 annual

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

s, rarely perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

s, growing to 10–120 cm tall. The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are spirally arranged, usually pinnate (rarely simple), forming a basal rosette in most species. The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s are produced in a panicle

Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....

, with a five-lobed corolla, which can be blue, white, pink or yellow.

Gilia species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including Schinia aurantiaca

Schinia

Schinia, commonly called Flower Moths, is a large genus of moths belonging to the family Noctuidae. The genus has a Holarctic distribution with the vast majority of species being found in North America, many with a very restricted range and larval food plant.-Species Information and Food Plants:...

and Schinia biundulata

Schinia

Schinia, commonly called Flower Moths, is a large genus of moths belonging to the family Noctuidae. The genus has a Holarctic distribution with the vast majority of species being found in North America, many with a very restricted range and larval food plant.-Species Information and Food Plants:...

(the latter feeds exclusively on G. cana).

Selected species:

Gilia achilleifolia Gilia achilleifolia The annual flowering plant Gilia achilleifolia is known commonly as California gilia, California gily-flower , and blue gilia. It is native to California but grows in other areas of North America where it has been introduced.... California Gilia Gilia aliquanta Gilia aliquanta Gilia aliquanta is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name puffcalyx gilia. It is native to the Sierra Nevada mountains and deserts of southeastern California and southern Nevada.... Puffcalyx Gilia Gilia angelensis Gilia angelensis Gilia angelensis is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name chaparral gilia. It is native to the coastal hills and mountains of California and Baja California, where it is a member of the chaparral ecosystem., especially in the Transverse Ranges.-Description:This... Chaparral Gilia Gilia austrooccidentalis Southwestern Gilia Gilia brecciarum Gilia brecciarum Gilia brecciarum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Nevada gilia. It is native to the western United States from California and Oregon to Nevada, where it grows in open areas in sandy soils, such as desert, plateau, and dry mountain slopes.-Description:This... Nevada Gilia Gilia cana Gilia cana Gilia cana is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name showy gilia. It is native to California and Nevada where it grows in open areas with gravelly and sandy soils, such as desert and rocky slopes... Showy Gilia Gilia capitata Gilia capitata Gilia capitata is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names bluehead gilia, blue field gilia, and globe gilia. It is native to much of western North America from Alaska to northern Mexico, and it can be found on the eastern side of the continent as an introduced... Bluehead Gilia / Globe Gilia Gilia clivorum Gilia clivorum Gilia clivorum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names purplespot gilia and many-stemmed gilia. It is native to California and Arizona.... Purplespot Gilia Gilia clokeyi Gilia clokeyi Gilia clokeyi is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Clokey's gilia. It is native to the southwestern United States from California to Colorado, where it grows in desert and other habitat.... Clokey's Gilia Gilia crassifolia Gilia diegensis Gilia diegensis Gilia diegensis is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name coastal gilia. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in forest and scrub habitat in the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges and the deserts to the east. inThe herb produces a... Coastal Gilia Gilia flavocincta Lesser Yellowthroat Gilia Gilia gossypifera Gilia inconspicua Gilia inconspicua Gilia inconspicua is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name shy gilia. It is native to the western United States, where it grows in sandy, open areas such as sagebrush and plateau.... Shy Gilia Gilia interior Inland Gilia Gilia involucrata Gilia lanuginosa Gilia latiflora Gilia latiflora Gilia latiflora is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names hollyleaf gilia and broad-flowered gilia. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the deserts and mountains of the southern part of the state.... Hollyleaf Gilia Gilia leptantha Gilia leptantha Gilia leptantha is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name fineflower gilia. It is native to California and southern Nevada, where it grows in open mountain and desert habitat.-Description:... Fineflower Gilia Gilia malior Gilia malior Gilia malior is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name scrub gilia. It is native to California and Nevada, where it grows in sandy and rocky soils in the lower and mountain habitats in the Mojave Desert.... Scrub Gilia Gilia mexicana El Paso Gilia

Gilia micromeria Great Basin Gilia Gilia millefoliata Gilia millefoliata Gilia millefoliata is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name manyleaf gilia. It is native to the coastline of Oregon and northern California, where it grows in sand dune habitat.-Description:... Manyleaf Gilia Gilia minor Gilia minor Gilia minor is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name little gilia. It is native to the Mojave Desert and it is also present in the coastal Santa Lucia Mountains of central-southern coastal California.-Description:... Little Gilia Gilia modocensis Modoc Gilia Gilia nevinii Gilia nevinii Gilia nevinii is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name Nevin's gilia. It is known only from the Channel Islands of California and Guadalupe Island off Baja California, where it grows in seaside canyons and flats. This is an erect herb with a hairy stem... Nevin's Gilia Gilia nudicaulis Gilia ochroleuca Volcanic Gilia Gilia ophthalmoides Gilia ophthalmoides Gilia ophthalmoides is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name eyed gilia. It is native to the southwestern United States where it can be found in woodlands and high desert plateau.-Description:... Eyed Gilia Gilia pusilla Gilia ramosissima Gilia salticola Gilia salticola Gilia salticola is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name salt gilia. It is native to the Sierra Nevada and Modoc Plateau of California and western Nevada, where it grows in volcanic and granitic soils.... Salt Gilia Gilia scopulorum Gilia scopulorum Gilia scopulorum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names rock gilia and Rocky Mountain gilia. It is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts.-Description:... Rock Gilia Gilia sinuata Gilia sinuata Gilia sinuata is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name rosy gilia. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to New Mexico, where it can be found in a number of open habitats.-Description:... Rosy Gilia Gilia stellata Gilia stellata Gilia stellata is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name star gilia. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it is a common resident of desert washes and sandy mountain slopes.... Star Gilia Gilia stewartii Stewart's Gilia Gilia tenuiflora Gilia tenuiflora Gilia tenuiflora is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name greater yellowthroat gilia. It is endemic to California, where its distribution spans the central coast and coastal mountains, as well as the Channel Islands.There are several subspecies, including G. c. ssp... Greater Yellowthroat Gilia Gilia transmontana Gilia transmontana Gilia transmontana is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name transmontane gilia. It is native to the western United States from California to Utah, where it grows in desert and plateau habitat.-Description:... Transmontane Gilia Gilia tricolor Gilia tricolor Gilia tricolor is an annual plant native to the Central Valley and foothills of the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges in California.-Subspecies:*Gilia tricolor ssp. diffusa Mason & A. Grant... Bird's-eye Gilia Gilia tweedyi Tweedy's Gilia Gilia valdiviensis Gilia yorkii Gilia yorkii Gilia yorkii is a rare species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names Boyden Cave gilia and monarch gilia. It is endemic to Fresno County, California, where it is known from only one location in the southern Sierra Nevada... Boyden Cave Gilia