WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

With a single, branching, hairless stem with 2–25 flower heads, this robust plant reaches 2–7-feet tall and spreads by rhizomes. Note the large, pinnately-lobed leaves and showy flower heads with drooping yellow rays and yellow to greenish disks. All parts are hairless to slightly hairy.

FLOWERS: June–September. Loose array of flower heads with 8–12 yellow ray flowers, each 1/2–3/4-inch long (15–20 mm), often drooping; disk a protruding dome. Phyllaries (under the petals) oval to lance-shaped, often unequal in length, hairless to sparsely hairy.

LEAVES: Basal and alternate on stem. Basal often withered by flowering. Stem blades oval to lance-shaped, largest 4–12-inches long (10–30 cm), smaller upward, with 3–5+ pointed lobes along midrib (pinnate); lobes also may be divided; faces with or without hairs, margins entire or with teeth.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly, loam soils, streambanks, mountain meadows, roadsides; ponderosa, Douglas fir, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 5,200–10,200 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CO, NM; Rocky Mountain states and eastward.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The drooping rays, yellow, domed disk, and large, pinnately-divided leaves help separate this species from other yellow species in the Aster family.

NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide, except eastern plains, in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Grant, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Rio Arriba, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.