Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Gutierrezia sarothrae

Gutierrezia sarothrae (Broom Snakeweed)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Openings, roadsides. Summer, fall.
Big Spring Trail, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, September 10, 2005.

Gutierrezia sarothrae spreads widely over many acres of land. It is often regarded as a "WEED" but it is not. It is a native and lovely plant, not eaten by cattle which destroy many other plants in the West, thus making more room for Gutierrezia sarothrae. When you see beautiful expanses of Gutierrezia it is usually because cattle have been on that land and reeked havoc with the natural plant community.

Gutierrezia sarothrae is often confused with Petradoria pumila which also puts on a massive display of yellow clusters of flowers, but the latter usually blooms earlier in June and July, is not woody, is shorter in more cylindrical clusters, and has much longer leaves and more golden flowers.

Gutierrezia sarothrae

Gutierrezia sarothrae (Broom Snakeweed)
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Openings, roadsides. Summer, fall.
Big Spring Trail, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, September 10, 2005 and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, October 21, 2010.

Multiple, leaning stems give rise to a rounded symmetrical crown which is densely covered with bright golden yellow small flowers. In Canyon Country the golden glow contrasts strikingly with the rich orange soils and dark black/brown of the Cryptobiotic Soil Crust, the community of lichens and cyanobacteria so fragile, beautiful, and common in Canyon Country.

In great contrast to these golden shrubs are the Gutierrezia sarothrae seedlings which at first might appear to be some Conifer or Fern seedlings. But almost always, somewhere along the trail their true nature becomes evident when you find some seedlings with one bright yellow Asteraceae flower at the very tip.

Typically one finds a scattering of seedlings. Warm temperatures and abundant moisture in the late summer and fall of 2010 produced a prodigious number of Gutierrezia sarothrae seedlings.