WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With numerous stems and branches, this distinctive mountain shrub can reach 5-feet tall and wide and be covered with dense clusters of yellow flowers. Note the triangular leaves with long, tapering points. It prefers rocky, often steep, habitats.

FLOWERS: July–October. Dense clusters with up to 30 small, yellow flower heads, each head with disk flowers only; phyllaries beneath the florets are ribbed, in a single row, and hairy.

LEAVES: Opposite. Leaves with stems (petioles) to 1 3/4-inches long (45 mm), blades to 4 3/4-inches long and wide (12 cm), triangular with tapering point.

HABITAT: Dry rocky soils, talus slopes, cliffs, canyons, meadows, roadsides; pinyon-juniper, ponderosa, Douglas fir forests.

ELEVATION: 5,500–10,000 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV, OK, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The yellow flower clusters with only disk florets and the triangular, tapering leaves distinguish this shrubby member of the Aster family.

NM COUNTIES: Statewide except se fourth, in mid- to high-elevation dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Dona Ana, Grant, Harding, Lincoln, Los Alamos, Luna, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.