Plant Name
Scientific Name: Ericameria laricifolia
Synonym: Haplopappus laricifolius
Common Names: Turpentine Bush, Turpentine Brush
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland
Flower Color: Brilliant yellow disks and rays
Flowering Season: Fall
Height: To 3 feet (91 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are in dense terminal clusters. The individual flower heads are 3/8 inch (10 mm) wide and have variable numbers of disk and ray flowers. The leaves densely line the branches and are dark green, resinous, narrowly linear, and 3/4 inch (1.9 cm) long.
Turpentine Bush is a low, rather inconspicuous, dark green shrub for much of the year, but when blooming, it becomes a brilliant blaze of yellow that's impossible to miss.
Special Characteristics
Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract numerous late season butterflies. It's rare to find a Turpentine Bush in full bloom without a butterfly or some other nectar-loving insect on it.
Foul-smelling – The crushed leaves smell strongly like turpentine.
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: Ericameria Nutt. – goldenbush
Species: Ericameria laricifolia (A. Gray) Shinners – turpentine bush
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