Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Yellow Rabbitbrush
Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus
Aster family (Asteraceae)

Sticky Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus) blooms in late summer with an abundance of tiny flowers clustered into a golden-yellow glow. The shrub is usually evenly rounded, it is typically eight-to-twenty inches tall (but may be three or four feet tall), the base of the flower cluster is commonly sticky (hence the Latin "viscidiflorus" meaning "sticky flower"), its leaves are very often twisted into a gentle spiral, and the stems are smooth. Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus is commonly found in lower foothill and , , and open forests. Some people are allergic to the peppery-sweet scent of the pollen of C. viscidiflorus and its very abundant cousin, Ericameria nauseosus.

The first specimens of this plant were collected by David Douglas along the Columbia River in 1826 and the plant was first named Crinitaria viscidiflora by William Hooker in 1834; in 1841 Thomas Nuttall gave the plant its present name.


©2009 Matt Lavin

Description

Shrubs to 40" tall, bark green to tan or white, gray in age, or hairy or sticky. Leaves to nearly 2" long and 1/4" wide, 1-5 , to , or , often twisted. Flowerheads numerous in compact to open clusters. sticky to hairy. yellow, to about 1/4" long. hairy .

Field Marks

Small compact shrub with an abundance of yellow flowers, sticky to the touch.

© Al Schneider

nerves -- Another name for a vein.

oblanceolate -- top wider than bottom

linear -- Long and very narrow like a blade of grass.

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.

shrubland -- Arid lands characterized by shrubs, grasses and a lack of trees.

terminal -- Located at the end (the tip or the apex).

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

Involucre is the name given to the circle or spiral collection of bracts around a flower-cluster.

elliptic -- Oval, with no point or a very short point.

montane -- inhabiting mountainous country but below timberline.

oblong -- Having an elongated form with somewhat parallel sides. Rectangular.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

meadow -- Large grass and wildflower filled area with few, if any, trees.