DESCRIPTION:
This is a small species that is confined between southern Texas, New Mexico, and neighboring northern Mexico. For some similarities. it is often confused with P. lutea which lives in the same territories.
The leaves, transverse and bilobed in shape with a hint of a central apex, measure up to 10 cm in length and 14 in width. They are highly variable and are similar to those of P. lutea itself.
Unlike the latter, P. affinis is equipped with bracts.
The 2.5 cm diameter flower is yellow-grey in color with lanceolate sepals up to 1.2 cm and smaller, thinner petals.
The crown, in two series, is made up of thin, thread-like filaments with small curious spherical knobs at the apex.
The very dark purple fruits are almost spherical, 8 to 10 mm in diameter and the seeds, 3 x 2 mm, are furrowed with transverse streaks.
It has notable resistance to the cold, so much so that it can be cultivated, as a curiosity or botanical rarity, even in climatic zones starting from 7B.
