General: Button Brittlebush (Encelia frutescens) is a rounded, thigh-high shrub with medium-sized gray, prickly leaves and with many flower stalks extending above the tight ball
of leaves. Each flower stalk is tipped with a large, yellow, daisy flower that lacks "petals," that is, the flowers are rayless.
Button Brittlebush is a common component of vegetation communities along washes, on bajadas, and on the lower slopes of mountains in the
Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage
Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.
Around Las Vegas, look for Button Brittlebush to the south of town in places like the Mojave National Preserve and other areas farther south and west.
Family: Sunflower (Asteraceae) |