Location
On trail after first sign #2 (N35D33'10.157 X W105D41'25.188) and between #2 & #3
Flowers first observed: 8/16/17
Plants w/Flowers
The Flower
Distribution
" Found in sandy to silty or rocky soils, often along roadsides, drainage bottoms, and other weedy habitats, from 3,000-8,500 ft (914-2591 m); flowers April-September. Distribution: Native to most states in the US, extending through MEX and in S. America; introduced to Asia, Pacific Islands and Australia. (SEINet)
Description
"Annual herbs, 20-100 cm tall, from a taproot; stems erect, strigose to villous-puberulent, unbranched when small and branched throughout when well developed. Leaves: Usually alternate along the stems, occasionally opposite near base of plants; most leaves on petioles but upper leaves can be sessile and bractlike; blades narrowly to broadly triangular or lanceolate, the margins coarsely toothed, lobed, or subentire, the surfaces strigose, lower surface hairier than the upper. Flowers: Flower heads showy, yellow, radiate, at branch tips on peduncles up to 10 cm long, sometimes numerous in terminal panicles; involucres hemisperic to nearly flat, 1-2 cm diameter, the bracts (phyllaries) 12-18 in 2-3 series, the outer phyllaries a bit longer than the inner; ray florets 10-15 per flower head, the laminae (ray petals) 1-2 cm long, yellow, 3-toothed at the tip; disc florets 40-150 or more per flower head, yellow. Fruits: Achenes 5-7 mm long, thinly hairy; topped with a pappus of 2 bristle-like awns, 1-2 mm long. (SEINet)
Ethnobotanical Uses
Medicine:
"Hopi make the plant into tea and use it as a fever wash and to treat spider bites. Navajo make lotion for similar uses. Navajo also use liquid of strained leaves for stomach trouble." (SEINet)
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