WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With a tangle of thin, smooth, wiry, evergreen stems that loose their tiny leaves early, this scrawny 2–5-foot tall plant is hardly a candidate for gardens. The leafless stems develop thorn-like barbs 3/8–3/4-inch long (10–20 mm) in the leaf axils; spreading by rhizomatous roots, the plant forms dense colonies, especially in disturbed areas. Some Native American tribes used the young shoots as starvation food.

FLOWER: June–October. Loose arrays of flower heads with 10–33 white ray flowers. The 3/16–3/8-inch long (5–10 mm) rays coil at maturity. The disk flowers are yellow.

LEAVES: Alternate tiny leaves wither early. The green stems photosynthesize.

HABITAT: Sandy, loamy soils of stream banks, ditches, agriculture fields, roadsides.

ELEVATION: 3,500–5,500 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, LA, NM, NV, OK, TX, UT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The wiry, green, stems with barbs and small white and yellow flower heads distinguish this species.

NM COUNTIES: Southern and eastern 1/2 of NM in low- to mid-elevation arid habitats: Bernalillo, Chaves, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Guadalupe, Grant, Harding, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Quay, Sandoval, Socorro, Union, Valencia.