San Felipe dogweed facts for kids
Quick facts for kids San Felipe dogweed |
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| Scientific classification | |
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Tageteae
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| Genus: |
Adenophyllum
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| Species: |
A. porophylloides
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| Binomial name | |
| Adenophyllum porophylloides (A.Gray) Strother
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Adenophyllum porophylloides is a type of flowering plant in the daisy family. It's often called San Felipe dogweed or San Felipe dyssodia. This plant naturally grows in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts. You can find it in the southwestern United States (like Arizona, California, and Nevada) and also in northwestern Mexico (in places like Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur).
What San Felipe Dogweed Looks Like
San Felipe dogweed is a special kind of desert plant. It's called a subshrub, which means it's a small, woody plant that's smaller than a bush. It has a strong smell, and its many branches can grow up to about 60 centimeters (about 2 feet) tall.
Leaves and Smell
The leaves of this plant are not very many, and they look a bit like claws. They are divided into sharp, pointed parts. These parts have special glands that produce a sticky substance called resin. The plant's leaves have a smell that many people find unpleasant.
Flowers and Seeds
The flowers of the San Felipe dogweed grow on a long stalk called a peduncle. The flower head itself is shaped like a cylinder. It's covered with special leaf-like parts called phyllaries, which also have large resin glands.
The very top of the flower head has bright yellow to reddish-orange flowers called disc florets. Sometimes, there are also short, thick yellow or reddish ray florets around the edge, which look like petals.
After the flowers bloom, the plant produces a fruit called an achene. This achene is about 5 millimeters long. It has a bristly, scaly top part called a pappus, which helps the seeds fly away in the wind.
