Verbesina encelioides subsp. exauriculata

FNA 2006, Jepson 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969, McDougall 1973

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Herbaceous annuals, to 120 cm tall, much-branched, herbage canescent, plants with a taproot, ill-smelling. Leaves: Alternate, proximal sometimes opposite, narrowly lanceolate to triangular-ovate, 3-10 cm long and 1-5 cm wide, 3-veined from the base, dentate with teeth projecting outwards and acute or acuminate tips, white strigose beneath but dull green above, borne on slender petioles 3 cm long or less. Flowers: Heads radiate, rays orange-yellow, the tips 3-lobed, the ligules 10-15 mm long, disk flowers yellow, corollas 5-6 mm, the receptacles conical, with thin bracts partially enclosing the achenes, involucres hemispheric to campanulate, phyllaries slender, densely strigose, in 2-4 series, linear to ovate, heads borne in corymbose arrays on long peduncles. Fruits: Disk achenes brown to black, flat, obovoid and 2-winged, the wings wide and white, 4-5 mm long and to 2 mm wide. Pappus awns 2, 1-2.5 mm long. Ecology: Found in disturbed areas, roadsides, and fields, from 3000-8500 ft (914-2591 m); flowering April-September. Distribution: Kansas to Montana, south to Texas, california, and Mexico. Notes: Good identifiers for this species are the petioled leaves which are densely white-strigose beneath and green above, and the annual plants, much-branched, with numerous heads. Ethnobotany: An infusion of the dried, crushed leaves or blossoms was taken for stomach troubles, the petals were chewed for good luck in hunting, a hollow piece of the dried stem was used in a procedure to rid corn of cutworms, a compound poultice of the root applied with much ceremony to rattlesnake bite. The seeds were used for food, the plant was soaked in bath water, used to make antelope prayer sticks in Plumeway, and the flowers were hung in the hogan or worn in a hat band as protection from lightning. Etymology: Verbesina is derived from Verbena, while encelioides means like or resembling the genus Encelia and exauriculata means without auricles. Synonyms: Many, see Tropicos Editor: LCrumbacher 2011