Plant Name
Scientific Name: Encelia farinosa
Common Names: Brittlebush, Goldenhills, Incienso
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Deciduous. The leaves drop off during periods of drought and after heavy frosts.
Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert. This common wildflower grows on rocky hillsides.
Flower Color: Yellow
Flowering Season: Winter (late), Spring
Height: To 3 feet (91 cm) tall or more
Description: The flowers are in branched clusters above the mound-shaped foliage. The individual flower heads are 2 inches (5 cm) wide and have yellow, blunt-toothed rays and golden orange to brown disk flowers. The leaves are alternate, woolly, grayish in color, and oval to triangle-shaped.
Special Characteristics
Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract butterflies, especially when other blooming plants are scarce.
Edible – The broken mature stems exude a resinous gum that was used as chewing gum in the past.
Fragrant – The aromatic gum that exudes from broken stems can be burned as incense.
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 farinosa A. Gray ex Torr. – brittlebush
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