WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Landscapers love this 6–15-inch tall, densely-branching plant. All summer long, a solid cover of white daisy-like flower heads decorate rounded mounds to 2-feet wide. It loves full sun and well draining garden spots with little supplemental water required. Note the 3/4–1 1/2-inch wide flower heads with yellow centers.

FLOWER: April–October. Flower heads to 1 1/2-inches wide (38 mm) bloom on stalks (peduncles) 1 1/4–2 3/4-inches long (3–7 cm). The 7–13 white ray flowers, 1/4–1/2-inch long (7–13 mm), have notched tips and often brown to purple veins underneath. The disk has tiny, protruding yellow disk florets.

LEAVES: Opposite. Rough hairs cover both sides of the narrow, linear to lance-shaped leaves, 3/4–1 3/4-inches (21–45 mm) long, 1/4-inch (6 mm) wide.

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

ELEVATION: 3,300–7,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, KS, NM, OK, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Desert Zinnia, Zinnia acerosa, in the southern half of NM, has a flower head with only 4–6 white rays.

NM COUNTIES: Widespread in all but the Four Corners and western counties in low- to mid-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Chaves, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Guadalupe, Harding, Hidalgo, Lea, Lincoln, Luna, Mora, Otero, Quay, Roosevelt, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.