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The carbon isotope composition (¹³C/¹²C) of C₃ plant tissues provides a long‐term, integrated measure of photosynthetic metabolism. Quantitative genetic methods were used to study the inheritance of carbon isotope composition and several morphological characters in Gutierrezia microcephala, a short‐lived desert perennial. Open‐pollinated seed was collected from a population located near Lee's Ferry, Arizona, in an area that was disturbed approximately 20 years ago. Seeds were germinated and seedlings grown in a common greenhouse environment. Carbon isotope discrimination (Δ) and all morphological characters varied significantly among maternal families. Heritability of Δ was estimated as 81% in the greenhouse and as 92% using the regression of family mean Δ on parent Δ from field samples. Using both field and greenhouse data, we estimated a lower bound for heritability in nature of 54 …