This 1–3-foot tall and wide shrub has branching stems with triangular leaves and clusters of nodding, tassel-like, white to yellowish flower heads. Note the leaves have tapering tips and the flower heads are on stems reaching 1 1/8-inches long.

FLOWERS: July–October. Loose clusters of nodding, cylindric to bell-shaped flower heads on stems (peduncles) 3/16–1 1/8-inch long (4–30 mm); ray flowers absent, each head with 20–40 tiny, whitish to yellow-tinted, tassel-like florets 1/4–3/8 inch (6–8 mm) long.

LEAVES: Opposite or nearly so on stems (petioles) 3/8–2 3/4-inches long (10–70 mm). Blade triangular to lance-shaped, 1–4 3/4-inches long (3–12 cm); tips tapering, margins lined with small teeth, surfaces covered with minute hairs visible with magnification.

HABITAT: Dry sandy, gravelly, loam soils, slopes, canyons; pinion-juniper, ponderosa, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 4,800–10,300 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, NM, TX, Rocky Mt. states and westward.

SIMILAR SPECIES: 20 species of Brickellia in NM. California Brickellbush, B. californica, statewide in similar habitats, has sparsely hairy, triangular leaves with rounded to pointed (not tapering) tips and flowers with maximum of 12 florets/head and peduncles less than 1/4-inch long (5 mm). Fragrant Snakeroot, Ageratina herbacea, in much the same range and habitat, has erect (not nodding), white flower heads.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide in mid- to high-elevation dry habitats. Absent in eastern border counties: Curry, De Baca, Guadalupe, Harding, Lea, Quay, Roosevelt.