> Yellow
Brittlebush
Encelia farinosa
Found in dry stony/gravelly slopes, creosote bush scrub.
Up to 3000'
Blooms March-May
Desert Habitat:
A common desert shrub of northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Its common name comes from the brittleness of its woody stems.
It is also called incienso because its dried stems were burned by early Spanish settlers as incense.
Description
Encelia farinosa grows to 1 m tall, with fragrant leaves 3-8 cm long, ovate to deltoid, and silvery tomentose. The capitula are 3-3.5 cm diameter, with orange-yellow ray florets and yellow or purple-brown disc florets. They are arranged in loose panicles above the leafy stems fruit 3-6 mm and there is no pappus.
Wildflower photo taken at Joshua Tree National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Encelia
Species: E. farinosa