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Sunflower Family, Asteraceae

Plants of the Sunflower family seen in Anza-Borrego include:

Desert Goldenhead (Acamptopappus sphaerocephalus)

San Felipe Dyssodia (Adenophyllum porophylloides)

Bur-Sage or Burro-Weed (Ambrosia dumosa)
Cheesebush (Ambrosia salsola var. salsola)

Scale-Bud (Aniscoma acaulis)

Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata)

Mule-Fat or Seep Willow or Water Wally (Baccharis salicifolia)

Rush Sweetbush (Bebbia juncea var. aspera)

Desert Pincushion (Chaenactis fremontii)
Yellow Pincusion (Chaenactis glabriuscula)

Desert Dicoria (Dicoria canescens)

Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa)
Rayless Encelia (Encelia frutescens)

Boundary Goldenbush (Ericameria brachylepis)
Interior Goldenbush (Ericameria linearfolia)
Punctate Rabbitbrush, Black-Stem Rabbitbush (Ericameria paniculata)

Long-Stem Golden-Yarrow (Eriophyllym confertiflorum)
Wallace's Woolly Sunflower (Eriophyllum wallacei)

Desert Sunflower (Geraea canescens)

Gray Sunflower (Helianthus niveus ssp. canescens)

Desert Alkali Goldenbush (Isocoma acradenia var. eremophila)

Goldfields (Lasthenia gracilis)

White Layia (Layia glandulosa)
Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa)

Desert Dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata)

Mohave Desert-Star (Monoptilon belliodes)

Spanish Needles (Palafoxia arida var. arida)

Chinch-weed (Pectis papposa)

Emory's Rock Daisy (Perityle emoryi)

Pygmy Cedar (Peucephyllum schottii)

Arrow-Leaf, (Pleurocoronis plurisetta)

Arrow Weed (Pluchea sericea)

Turtleback (Psathyrotes ramosissima)

Desert Chicory (Rafinesquia neomexicana)

Common Sow-Thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)

Small Wreath-Plant (Stephanomeria exigua ssp. exigua)
Few-Flower Wreath-Plant (Stephanomeria pauciflora)

California Trixis (Trixis californica var. californica)

Silver-Puffs (Uropappus lindleyi)

Parish's Golden-Eyes (Viguiera parishii)

Orcutt's Woody-Aster (Xylorhiza orcuttii)

When people come to Anza-Borrego from over the western mountains to look for flowers in Spring, one of the first things they are likely to notice is the mountains covered with clusters of Brittlebush, a favorite member of the Sunflower Family.

This is just the first member of the family that visitors usually see. In places where Spring flowers proliferate, such as in the sandy fields near Coyote Creek and along Henderson Canyon Road, you are likely to find yellow plants such as Prairie Sunflower, Desert Dandelion, Desert-Sunflower, Trixis, and Sweetbush, to name just a few.

Not every Sunflower Family member has yellow flowers. Desert Chicory flowers, Desert Star, and Rock-Daisies are white. The flowers of Mule fat, Arrowweed, and tiny Spanish Needles are in the pink to rose range. The lovely Orcutt's Woody Aster blossoms in blue.

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