Desert Star (Monoptilon bellioides)
We were at the discharge end of what had been a narrow slot-canyon, facing out onto a wide, windy, rock-strewn plain.  The hills in that part of the Colorado Desert are sun-baked layers of ancient mud.  Rain is meager and infrequent, but when it falls the old mud reawakens and slides down the canyons in a sticky grey soup.  As the torrent subsides onto the plains the mud dries again, burying whatever seeds it carried down.