WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Flower heads with deep-golden rays and yellow disk flowers, grow on 3–5-foot tall, hairy stems. The branching plants spread by rhizomes and can form bushy colonies in open areas. Note the pairs of opposite, serrated leaves and a outer row of blunt to slightly pointed phyllaries beneath the heads. Also called False Sunflower because, unlike the Helianthus genus, the ray flowers are fertile.

FLOWERS: June–August. Blooms on stems (peduncles) 1–6-inches long (2.5–15 cm) with1–15 flower heads, each 1 1/2–3-inches wide (3.8–7.5 cm); 8–20 yellow ray flowers surround a disk of yellow florets; 2 rows of phyllaries beneath the head, the outer oval, blunt-tipped. Both ray and disk flowers are fertile.

LEAVES: Opposite. Short leaf stems (petioles) to 3/4-inch long (20 mm); blades lance-shaped to oval, 2 1/2–6-inches long (6–15 cm) by 1–4 3/4-inches wide (2.5–12 cm), margins serrated, tip pointed, upper surface rough-hairy, lower surface soft-hairy to hairless.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly loam soils, meadows, moist areas, disturbed areas; plains, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-Douglas fir, aspen forests.

ELEVATION: 6,200–9,000 feet.

RANGE: CO, NM; widespread in all states east of Rocky Mts.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The species has two varieties: var. scabra occurs in NM. The nearly stemless paired leaves, deep-golden rays, and spreading, blunt outer phyllaries help separate this species from the many other yellow sunflowers.

NM COUNTIES: North to south through central NM in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Colfax, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Miguel,  Santa Fe, Taos, Torrance, Union.