Plant Name
Scientific Name: Rafinesquia neomexicana
Common Names: New Mexico Plumeseed, Desert Chicory
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Annual
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert
Flower Color: White to pink-tinged
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: To 20 inches (51 cm) tall
Description: The chicory-like flower heads are 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm) across and have broad, square-tipped, 5-toothed rays, green, magenta, and cream-streaked bracts, and no disks. The rays are white above and reddish maroon-streaked below. The leaves are grayish green, alternate, elongated, and toothed or narrowly lobed. The stems are erect, grayish green, smooth, and hairless.
The similar California Plumeseed (Rafinesquia californica) has smaller flowers with more numerous, narrower rays, while White Tackstem (Calycoseris wrightii) has more numerous rays and tack-shaped glands on the stems and flower bases.
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: Rafinesquia Nutt. – plumeseed
Species: Rafinesquia neomexicana A. Gray – New Mexico plumeseed
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