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   We have a number of Rabbitbrushes in the Four Corners area; the two most common are Chrysothamnus nauseosus and Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus.  Both have similar habitats, but C. viscidiflorus ranges into the mountains more.  C. nauseosus, the most common Rabbitbrush in our area, often grows seven feet tall and wide with a wide-spreading open crown.  It is easily distinguished by the white felt covering its twigs.  C. viscidiflorus grows to three or four feet with a tighter growth pattern; it has sticky flowers and its leaves are twisted.  Both often sprout dozens of bushes in one area.

    All three species shown on this web site are late flowering, usually in August and September when their crowns become a bright golden glow of flowers.  This glow gives rise to the Latin name "Chryso" " thamnus", "golden" "bush".  Thomas Nuttall named this genus in the early 19th century for its "affinity to [the genus] Chrysocoma and brilliant golden yellow flowers."  "Nauseosus" means "heavy scented", and "viscidiflorus" means "sticky flowered". 
   See Chrysothamnus nauseosus.

 

Synonym: Chrysothamnus parryi.  Ericameria parryi.     (Rabbitbrush)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothills, montane. Open woodlands, meadows. Summer, fall.
Fish Creek Trail, August 9, 2005.
Wildcat Trail, August 28, 2007.

Chrysothamnus parryi grows to a bit more than two feet tall and is found at woodland borders and in meadows.  Long, narrow leaves sometimes spiral and flowers are large compared to other members of the genus.  The phyllaries are long and slightly keeled and flowers are numerous in tight clusters.  There are a number of subspecies differing in the number of flowers per head, the hairiness of the leaves and stems, the height of the plant, etc.

Hall and Harbour are given credit for collecting this species on an 1862 trip in Colorado led by the eminent botanist Charles Parry.  Asa Gray named the species Linosyris parryi in 1863, it was renamed Chrysothamnus parryi by Edward Greene in 1895, and it has had many other names, the latest and now most widely accepted being that given by Nesom and Baird in 1993: Ericameria parryi.  (More biographical information.) 

Synonym: Chrysothamnus parryi.  Ericameria parryi.     (Rabbitbrush)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothills, montane. Open woodlands, meadows. Summer, fall.
Fish Creek Trail, August 9, 2005.

Phyllaries, the light green structures that surround the side of each flower cluster, are long, narrow, light green, and keeled, i.e., humped or raised like a ship's keel.

Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus (Green Rabbitbrush)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothills, montane, subalpine. Meadows, disturbed areas. Fall.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, August 21, 2005.

Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus blooms in late summer with an abundance of tiny flowers clustered into a yellow glow.  The shrub is evenly rounded and is commonly found in lower foothill and montane meadows.  C. viscidiflorus can be from one-to-four feet tall (commonly about two), the base of the flower is sticky (hence the Latin "viscidiflorus" meaning "sticky flower"), its leaves are twisted into a gentle spiral, and the stems are smooth without whitish coating.  Some people are allergic to the peppery-sweet smelling pollens of C. viscidiflorus.

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.

Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus (Green Rabbitbrush)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothills, montane, subalpine. Meadows, disturbed areas. Fall.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, August 21, 2005.

Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus (Green Rabbitbrush)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Foothills, montane, subalpine. Meadows, disturbed areas. Fall.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, August 21, 2005.