Plant Name
Scientific Name: Baccharis sarothroides
Common Names: Desertbroom, Desert Broom, Rosinbush
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Evergreen
Growth Habit: Shrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland, Riparian. It grows in washes, along roadways, and in other disturbed areas. It is equally likely to occur in wetlands or non-wetlands.
Flower Color: White to cream, Tan
Flowering Season: Fall, Winter
Height: Up to 10 feet (3 m) tall, but usually less
Description: The plants are dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. The flower heads are rayless. The slender female flowers are followed by abundant, white, downy seeds that cover the plants in large, cottony masses and easily become airborne and drift in the wind like snow. The leaves are green, thick, sessile, and very narrowly linear-oblanceolate. The stems are green, angular, and nearly leafless. The branches were used as brooms by Native Americans and others.
Special Characteristics
Allergenic – The pollen is possibly a severe allergen.
Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract butterflies, especially Western Pygmy-Blue (Brephidium exilis) butterflies and other autumn butterflies.
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: Baccharis L. – baccharis
Species: Baccharis sarothroides A. Gray – desertbroom
More About This Plant