Yellow, dime-sized flower heads often cover this densely branching, 4–10 inch tall plant with dark-green to gray leaves with thread-like lobes. Note the tall flower stalks (peduncles) that hold the flowers above the foliage. Two varieties with different numbers of disk flowers occur in NM.

FLOWER: April–October. Solitary flower heads, to 5/8-inch wide (16 mm), have 12–21 bright yellow, petal-like rays surrounding a yellow disk. Numerous flowers bloom at once on 3/4–2 inches tall (2–5 cm), leafless stems above a mat of hair-like, deep-green to grayish foliage.

LEAVES: Mostly opposite, crowded on stems. Leaves 1/4–1-inch long (4–25 mm), with 3–7 unequal, stiff, filament-like lobes less than 1 mm wide. Amber oil glands give the leaves a dank, canine odor, thus the common name.

HABITAT: Dry gravelly, sandy soils; desert grasslands and scrub.

ELEVATION: 3,300–6,000 feet.

RANGE: CA, AZ, NM, NV, UT, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Two varieties of T. pentachaeta occur in NM:  var. hartwegii  has 16–40 disk florets; var. belenidium has 50–70 disk florets. The widespread Spiny Dogweed, T. acerosa, nearly statewide, is about the same size but has unlobed, spiny leaves 3/8–1 inch long (10–25 mm) and nearly stemless flowers embedded within the foliage.

NM COUNTIES: Low-elevation arid habitats in so. NM: Chaves, Cibola, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Hidalgo, Lincoln, Luna, Otero, Sierra, Socorro.