WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Many decumbent to erect stems sprout from the base and reach 12-inches tall/long, usually with short branches. Note the showy, yellow flower heads with numerous rays with tiny points on the tips, and leaves lined with triangular lobes. The sap is milky.

FLOWERS: March–June. Ray flowers only, flower head crowded with 16–88 florets, each 1/4–3/8-inch long (7–10 mm), outer ones with red stripes on the backside, tips squared with 5 tiny points. White flowers occasionally occur (reported near Columbus, NM).

LEAVES: Mostly basal; alternate on stem. Basal leaves oblong to elliptic, pointed, to 3-inches long (8 cm), with 2–4+ pairs of teeth or triangular lobes along midrib; stem leaves few, smaller.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils; desert grasslands and scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,400–7,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, NM, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Smooth Desert Dandelion, M. glabrata (see photo), in the Boothill region, has erect leaves with 3–6 pairs of thread-like lobes. Texas Dandelion, Pyrrhopappus pauciflorus, at mid-elevations, has black anther tubes.

NM COUNTIES: Western half of NM, scattered elsewhere in low-elevation, arid habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Dona Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Otero, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Union, Valencia.