Orange Flax
(Linum puberulum)

I have seen this little plant growing in several places in Wayne County, Utah. It is fairly easy to find when it is blooming. The ones I have seen are only about 4 inches tall, but the flowers are about the size of a penny, and they show up quite well.
None of my books about Utah Wildflowers makes any reference to this plant. I was told by a professional botanist that it was a flax, but had never seen a picture or description of it in a book until very recently.

A description was finally found in the book "Desert Wildflowers of North America", by Ronald J. Taylor. The range is said to be "from the Painted Desert through the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and into the Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico and western Texas."
The flowers shown in the illustration in the book look identical to the ones I have seen in Utah. If it is not the same species, it must at least be a very closely related one.