WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With branching stems reaching 4-feet tall, this widespread montane flower can cover meadows, fields, and roadsides with a blanket of gold. True to its name “multi flora,” each plant can have 30+ showy flower heads. As the flowers age, the tips fade leaving a brighter center “eye.” Note the opposite leaves without stems (sessile) and the slender phyllaries that curl backwards.

FLOWERS: July–October. Golden-yellow heads 1–2-inches wide (2.5–5  cm) have 5–14 ray flowers, each ray oval to oblong, reaching 3/4-inch (20 mm) long, and surrounding a yellow disk. The flower stem (peduncle) reaches 6-inches long. The phyllaries underneath the flower head are narrowly lance-shaped, covered with kinky, woolly hair.

LEAVES: Opposite (sometimes alternate near flower head; alternate in var. brevifolia). Blades up to 3 1/2-inches (90 mm) long, margins with tiny hairs for 1/4th the length. Variety multiflora has oval lance-shaped blades 3/16–3/4-inch (5–20 mm) wide with flat margins; var. nevadensis has linear blades 1/4-inch (2–8 mm) wide with margins that roll under.

HABITAT: Gravel-loam, clay, sandy soils of open areas, streamsides, roadsides; pinyon-oak-juniper, ponderosa, aspen-conifer forests.

ELEVATION: 5,300–10,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, TX, UT, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The nearly identical Longleaf Goldeneye, H. longifolia, in much the same range but in desert shrub to pinyon-juniper, is an annual with flower stems (peduncles) reaching only 3/4-inch long and narrow leaves often with the margins rolled under.

NM COUNTIES: Widespread except for the eastern plains of NM in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.