Plant Name
Scientific Name: Encelia frutescens
Synonym: Simsia frutescens
Common Names: Button Brittlebush, Rayless Encelia
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Shrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert
Flower Color: Yellow
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer. This wildflower blooms in the springtime and then again after the summer monsoon rains.
Height: 2 to 5 feet (61 cm to 1.5 m) tall
Description: The flower heads have a 3/4 inch (1.9 cm) wide, button-shaped, yellow disk and are usually rayless (without petals). If any rays are present, they are yellow. The leaves are rough-textured, green, alternate, stiffly hairy, and rounded to narrowly oval in shape. The stems are usually whitish.
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 About This Plant