Location
On trail in churchyard (N35D32'58.427 X W105D41'22.002)
Flowers first observed: 5/27/17
The Plant
The Flower
Distribution
"Most of western N. America from Manitoba south to TX, west to CA and south to s MEX." (SEINet)
Description
"Perennial herb or subshrub, 10-100 cm tall, from a woody, branched caudex; stems 1-30 or more per plant, branched throughout, hairy or glabrous, often stipitate-glandular. Leaves: Basal leaves often withering by flowering, once or twice pinnately lobed, 1-3 cm long and 1 cm wide; stem leaves alternate, the blades 0.2 to 8 cm long, linear with entire margins, or oblong to lanceolate with deeply lobed or toothed margins, the teeth 4–18 or more per side, each tipped with a white bristle; leaf surfaces hairy or glabrous, often stipitate-glandular. Flowers: Flower heads showy, yellow, and radiate, located at branch tips; involucres hemisperic to cupulate, 6-10 mm high and 8-25 mm wide, the bracts (phyllaries) in 5-6 graduated series, the outer phyllaries much shorter than the inner; phyllaries often stipitate-glandular, always straw-colored at the base, grading into a spot of dark green near the tip, and terminating in a white bristle; ray florets 14-60 per flower head, the laminae (ray petals) 5-12 mm long, yellow; disc florets 30-150 per flower head, yellow. Fruits: Achenes 2 mm long, narrowly obovoid, about 20-nerved, and covered with tawny-hairs; topped with a pappus of tawny bristles, 4-6 mm long." (SEINet)
Ethnobotanical Uses
Medicine:
"The Navajo used it to cure headaches." (SEINet)
Internet Links