Isocoma tenuisecta – Burroweed

Isocoma tenuisecta - Burroweed, Burro Weed

Isocoma tenuisecta - Burroweed, Burro Weed

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Isocoma tenuisecta

Synonyms: Haplopappus tenuisectus, Aplopappus tenuisectus

Common Names: Burroweed, Burro Weed

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Subshrub, Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland. It grows in dry, sunny, open, disturbed areas like roadsides, graded areas, and in overgrazed pastures and rangeland.

Flower Color: Golden yellow disks

Flowering Season: Summer (late), Fall

Height: 1 to 3 feet (30 to 91 cm) tall

Description: The rayless flower heads are in rounded clusters at the tips of the woody stems. The leaves are alternate, dark green, small, thickened, gland-dotted, and pinnately-lobed with linear, point-tipped lobes.

Special Characteristics

Poisonous – The plants are poisonous and contain the toxic substance tremetol, which can cause the "trembles" in animals that eat a large quantity of the plants. Horses are the most affected. Humans can become ill with "milk sickness" from drinking milk from cows that have grazed on Burroweed. Fortunately, the plants are foul-tasting and usually avoided by livestock unless there is nothing else to eat.

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: Isocoma Nutt. – goldenbush
Species: Isocoma tenuisecta Greene – burroweed

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map