Semi-desert, foothills. Canyons, rocky areas. Summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 23, 2011.

Brickellia oblongifolia variety linifolia is typically six to twenty inches tall, flowers in the late spring or early summer, and loves open, dry, rocky areas.  It is found in all Four Corners states at lower elevations.  Leafy stems, as the photograph at left and above indicate, often arch outward and then upward ("ascending" growth form). 

Thomas Nuttall, famed 19th century botanical collector and Professor of Botany at Harvard, named this plant in 1841 from a specimen he collected in 1834 on gravel bars on and near the Columbia River.  Dr. John Brickell was an early American physician and naturalist. (More biographical information about Brickell.)

Semi-desert, foothills. Canyons, rocky areas. Summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 23, 2011.

Brickellia oblongifolia variety linifolia flowers, as the photographs on this page show, are rayless, solitary at the end of each stem, and streaked on their phyllaries (often with tinges of red).  Last year's stems, leaves, and dried flower parts often persist and make the plant relatively easy to locate.

Brickellia oblongifolia variety linifolia (Bricklebush)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Canyons, rocky areas. Summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 23, 2011.

Brickellia oblongifolia variety linifolia (Bricklebush)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Canyons, rocky areas. Summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, May 23, 2011.

Leaves are most often clothed in short, glandular hairs that give a very noticeable fragrance to the plant.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Brickellia oblongifolia variety linifolia