Common names:
Bitter hymenoxys, bitter rubberweed, western bitterweed
Family:
Scientific name:
Hymenoxys odorata
Main flower color:
Range:
From California to the southern Great Plains
Height:
Up to 30 inches
Habitat:
Streambanks, riparian canyons, open flats, roadsides, ditches, from 200 to 5,000 feet
Leaves:
Alternate, unevenly pinnately divided into narrow, linear lobes
Season:
February to June
Hymenoxys odorata is a robust plant, producing up to 20 or more stout, branched stems, which are usually purple-tinged around the base, and, like the leaves, sparsely covered with short hairs. Leaves may be simple or lobed, the lobes (five to ten) well-separated, narrow and linear, perpendicular to the axis. The central portion of the leaf blade has a broad, light-colored midvein. Leaves are dotted with tiny, pitted glands.
Plants may have up to 300 flowerheads, in branched (panicular) clusters. Phyllaries are in two rows, both of eight to 13; lower series are narrowly obovate to oblanceolate, fused towards the base, the inner more broadly obovate. Ray florets, also eight to 13, are yellow, the disc florets (50 to 150) orange-yellow.
Plants may have up to 300 flowerheads, in branched (panicular) clusters. Phyllaries are in two rows, both of eight to 13; lower series are narrowly obovate to oblanceolate, fused towards the base, the inner more broadly obovate. Ray florets, also eight to 13, are yellow, the disc florets (50 to 150) orange-yellow.
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