General: Desert Gold (Geraea canescens) is a desert annual with a basal rosette of leaves and a tall, branching flower stalk with several golden-yellow flowers per branch. The "petals" are broad and bright yellow, while the center is darker yellow-orange. These are one of the main flowers that paint the bottom of Death Valley yellow after a wet winter.

Desert Gold sometimes is the dominant component of vegetation communities on desert flats and on bajadas in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.

Around Las Vegas, look for this species in the Death Valley region.

Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae).

Other Names: Desert-Sunflower, Hairy Desert Sunflower, Desert Sunflower.

Plant Form: Annual herb with basal leaves and a tall flower stalk.

Height: Flower stalk to about 2 feet.

Stems: Single or branched.

Leaves: Blades long and narrow to elliptical, to about 5-inches long, margin generally entire.

Flowers: Blooms during spring and fall. Inflorescence: flowerheads, few to many in panicles. Flowers: large, daisy-like flower with golden-yellow ray flowers and orange disk flowers.

Seeds: Small achene (small sunflower seed).

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy and gravelly soils on bajadas and moderate slopes.

Elevation: Below about 4,000 feet.

Distribution: California to southwestern Utah and western Arizona, and south into northern Mexico.