WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With 7 varieties in NM, this highly variable species can have variable stem height, leaf base shape, number of flower heads, and number of  petal-like ray florets. A single plant can form a bushy clump with 50+ stems 6–16-inches tall and wide. Note the densely hairy leaves and stems and solid yellow flower heads.

FLOWERS: May–October. Dense arrays of 1–1 1/2-inch wide (25–38 mm), lemon-yellow flower heads with 10–20 petal-like ray florets, 1/4–1/2-inch long (6–12 mm), surround a center of yellow disk flowers; phyllaries beneath the ray flowers are stacked in 4–5 rows, pointed and often reddish tipped.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blades 3/8–1-inch long (10–25 mm), lance-shaped to oblong, stemless with rounded to tapering bases, blunt to pointed tip; surfaces gray-green, rough, hairy; margins flat with no teeth, lined with ciliate to flat-lying hairs.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils; sand dunes, desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa-oak, Douglas fir forests.

ELEVATION: 4,000–10,500 feet.

RANGE: Widespread in all states west of the Missouri River.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The look-alike Gray Goldenaster, H. canescens (see photo), widespread in similar habitats, has leaves lined with long, silky hairs and spreads by rhizomes to form colonies. Stiff-leaf Goldenaster, H. stenophylla, in the plains of eastern NM counties, has stems crowded with 1–2-inch long, narrow leaves with hairy margins and pointed tips. Camphor Weed, H. subaxillaris, has stems 1–5 feet tall. The Heterotheca genus is in the process of a complete reshuffle, renaming, and reorganization, which may separate H. villosa in NM to a different species.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide in mid-to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Harding, Hidalgo, Guadalupe, Lea, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.