Showy gilia (Gilia cana) is an annual herb in the phlox family. It’s native to California and Nevada where it grows in open areas with gravelly and sandy soils, such as desert and rocky slopes. It isn’t known to be sold commercially.

Most of the leaves are arranged in a rosette clump at the base of the plant. Each leaf is made up of smaller toothlike leaflets. The leaves have an unpleasant skunklike scent and may have a coat of cobweb-like fibers on them. 

This plant grows a stout, branching flower stem around 12 inches tall. The stem shows off purple to pinkish-lavender tubular flowers in spring that are yellow and blue inside. The flowers have slightly protruding stamens with bluish anthers and produce a small, rounded seed capsule. 

Gilia cana is used as an exclusive food plant by the larvae of the moth species Schinia biundulata.