Encelia frutescens

Common Name: Littleleaf Brittlebush, Button Brittlebush
Oˊodham Name: [unknown]
Group: Shrubs － Desert

Description

Encelia frutescens is a small, sparsely foliated shrub that is leafless much of the year but has small, oval green leaves during Spring and occasionally during the Monsoon. Small yellow flowers produce large amounts of large seeds and provide an important food source for birds and rodents. This species grows in sandy and gravelly soils between 2500 and 4000 ft elevation. This species differs from its close relative, Encelia farinosa, in producing only a cone flower, whereas E. farinosa has the disk+ray flower structure typical of the Compositeae.

Classification

Kingdom Plantae － Plants

Subkingdom Tracheobionta － Vascular plants

Superdivision Spermatophyta － Seed plants

Division Magnoliophyta － Flowering plants

Class Magnoliopsida － Dicotyledons

Subclass Asteridae

Order Asterales

Family Asteraceae － Aster family

Genus Encelia Adans. － brittlebush

Species Encelia frutescens (A. Gray) A. Gray － button brittlebush

More Information

USDA Plant Profile and Map