Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Spring, summer.
Arches National Park, Utah, May 4, 2005.

This massive beauty (notice the ruler in the upper right) grows to over two feet tall and four feet wide.  Bright flowers are about four inches in diameter.  Scabrethia scabra grows scattered in Blackbrush communities on open sandy areas at low altitudes.  

Scabrethia scabra was named Wyethia scabra by Hooker in 1847 and has just been renamed, for it is, in the words of Intermountain Flora, "a distinctive species, not to be confused with anything else," and in Weber's words, "not a true Wyethia, and given a new name in the... Flora of North America".  That new name, given by Weber in 1999, is Scabrethia scabra.  "Scabra" is Latin for "rough" and refers to the texture of the leaves.

Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Spring, summer.
Arches National Park, Utah, May 4, 2005.

Semi-desert. Shrublands, openings. Spring, summer.
Arches National Park, Utah, May 4, 2005.