Now check the size of the plant as indicated in the sketch and text. Does the text list the flower as occurring in the particular desert area (see map on next page) where you are? Is the blossoming season correct? Do other details check? If so, the chances are that you have the right flower—or at least a close relative. Close enough, anyway, so that you may be reasonably safe in calling the flower by its common name. Of course if a botanist happens along, he may point out that you have _Penstemon parryi_ whereas you thought you had struck up an acquaintance with _Penstemon pseudospectabilis_. However, it’s a penstemon, even tho’ a sister of the one you thought you were meeting. Perhaps you’ll run across a dozen other brothers and sisters before you happen onto the member of the genus common enough to be listed specifically in our Desert Who’s Who. Certain of the desert flowers change color with age. Also, during off seasons, some of the really common flowers don’t show up in large numbers while a few of the rarer ones may take their turn at brightening up the desert. Furthermore, in a few cases such as the Oleander, the species comes in two colors, red flowers on one plant and white on another. The Bird-of-Paradise flower has yellow petals, but the rest of the flower is red, so it’s a toss-up which color you might call it. The Beavertail Cactus has magenta flowers while those of its very close relative, Engelmann’s Prickly Pear, have yellow blossoms, yet in this booklet it has been necessary to put them both on the same page in the “yellow” section. So, this booklet makes no claims to perfection, and these discrepancies add certain hazards to the game. You may strike out several times before getting to first base. As you become accustomed to using the booklet, home runs will come more frequently, and you will soon begin to have a lot of fun. If any particular species especially interests you, once you are certain of its identity you can readily find out more about it by following up in one or more of the publications listed in this booklet under the heading “References.” A few of the common desert flowers have been left out of this booklet—purposely. The reason is that, although they are well represented among desert flowers, they are even more common throughout non-desert parts of the Southwest. You will find them all in a companion booklet: Polly Patraw’s “Flowers of the Southwest Mesas.” They belong principally to the following groups: Cottonwood, Rabbit-brush, Snakeweed, Saltbush, Apacheplume, Clematis, Squawbush, Blanketflower, Sunflower, Groundsel, Elder, Blazing Star and Morningglory. PLANT NAMES Be Serious About Plant Names—But Not Too Serious