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Verbesina encelioides variety exauriculata.
Synonym: Ximenesia encelioides. (Crownbeard) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Fields, openings.
Summer, fall. This common-to-abundant plant is primarily found on disturbed sites in the Southwest United States. It grows from a few to fifty inches tall from a strong taproot and flowers prolifically. Various botanical authorities consider it either an annual, biennial, or perennial. I have only found it to be a very hardy annual that may begin blooming in mid-summer, go to seed, and actually have these seeds root, grow, and fully develop with flowers late in the same season. Basal leaves of Verbesina encelioides are absent at flowering time; hairs abound on stem, leaves, and base of flower; petals are notched on their tips; and seeds are distinctively encircled with white wings. The plant has a pleasant smell. Weber indicates that this plant is non-native; most other authorities (including John Kartesz, the ultimate authority for this web site -- see his range map and colors below) considers this a native plant in the Four Corners area. In 1794 Antonio Jose Cavanilles (1745-1804) named the Ximenesia genus and the Ximenesia encelioides species. In 1876 George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker renamed the species Verbesina encelioides. Jose Ximenes was, according to Weber, a "Castilian Pharmacist and botanical illustrator". "Encelioides" means "similar to the genus Encelia", and "verbesina" means similar to the genus "Verbena". |
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Verbesina encelioides variety exauriculata. Synonym: Ximenesia encelioides. (Crownbeard) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Fields, openings.
Summer, fall. | |||
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Verbesina encelioides variety exauriculata. Synonym: Ximenesia encelioides. (Crownbeard) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Fields, openings.
Summer, fall. The upper side of the leaf (shown at left and immediately below) is dark green and rough from short, stiff, evenly spaced hairs.
The underside is canescent (coated so extensively with hairs that it has a gray/white cast to it).
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Verbesina encelioides variety exauriculata. Synonym: Ximenesia encelioides. (Crownbeard) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Fields, openings.
Summer, fall. Hairs abound on the phyllaries and flower stem. | |||
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Verbesina encelioides variety exauriculata. Synonym: Ximenesia encelioides. (Crownbeard) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Fields, openings.
Summer, fall. The horsecollar-winged seeds of Verbesina encelioides are really cute. | |||
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Verbesina encelioides variety exauriculata. Synonym: Ximenesia encelioides. (Crownbeard) Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Foothills. Fields, openings.
Summer, fall. The Pinto Beans in this field were harvested about four weeks before this photograph was taken, so all of this Verbesina encelioides growth took place in a very short time. |
Range map © John Kartesz,
County Color Key
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Range map for Verbesina encelioides |
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